U.S. CPI

Description of a couple of new U.S. Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) charts.

Consumer price inflation is the increase in price of a basket of consumer goods. The first chart below shows the monthly U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI). If the underlying basket of consumer goods doubles in price, then the index value doubles. The chart is shown on a log scale so that the slope of the line at any point illustrates the consumer price inflation rate at that point in time.

The next chart actually graphs the rate of change. That is it graphs the percent change from each month to the month one year prior. This is an annual consumer price inflation rate.