Explanation

• Consumer price indexes measure the rate of change of the cost of living, or inflation/deflation rate in goods purchased directly by consumers; they do not compare living expenses between cities
• Cost of living indicators are comparative between cities or countries
• Producer price indexes measure the rate of change in the selling price of goods by the producer in manufacturing, mining, agriculture, forestry fisheries, services, etc; they may predict a rise in consumer prices
• BLS Handbook of Methods
  • Describes history and methodology of collecting consumer price index, producer price index, international price index, and consumer expenditures
  • In HTML and Adobe Acrobat formats

Comprehensive Sources

• Proquest Statistical Insight (UMich Only)
  • Indexes and abstracts federal government statistics since 1974 (full text since 2004); business, association and state government data and international agencies since 1980 with full text since 2007
  • Basic and advance searching
  • Data can be downloaded in pdf and spreadsheet formats

Consumer Price Indexes - United States

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • Measures the rate of price change for food, shelter, fuel, apparel, transportation, medical care, entertainment, and other service items
  • The CPI Home Page provides an explanation of CPI data collection, testimony before Congress, the most current press releases of national data, and several options for time series access
  • The majority of information appears under Data - Most Frequently Requested Series
    • Data may be formatted in several different ways to facilitate analysis
    • The direct links are to national data
    • The CPI for metropolitan areas appears under the links to BLS Regional Office Most Frequently Requested Series
• CPI Calculator
  • Choose the U.S. or one of twenty regions/cities
  • Enter a dollar amount for a beginning year and obtain its value in another year
• Economic Time Series (Ted Bos)
  • See bottom of page for monthly CPI data for all urban consumers
  • Total index, food and energy indexes, and various combinations
  • Some time series begin 1946
• Historic Consumer Price Index, 1800-1998 (UMich)
  • Annual CPI, 1800-1912, copied from Historical Statistics of the United States
  • Monthly CPI, 1913-February 2014, downloaded from BLS in XLSX format
  • Both use the base 1967=100
  • Historic CPI Data (Base=1982-84) is available on the BLS web site on a monthly basis since 1913
• How Much is That?
  • Purchasing power of the U.S. dollar since 1665 and British pound since 1264
  • Historic interest rates, price of gold, and GDP for both countries with many series dating back 800 years
  • U.S. and British exchange rates with 40 other countries for a minimum of 90 years
• Inflation Conversion Factors (Robert Sahr/Oregon State)
  • Factors for converting the value of a dollar at each year since 1800 into current dollars (1982/84, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999)
  • Graphs illustrate current and constant prices of movie tickets, the national debt, Congressional pay, campaign expenditures, the minimum wage, and Social Security benefits
• STAT-USA (Doc Cen Password Only)
  • Includes current press releases of detailed Consumer, Producer, and International price indexes
• What is the Dollar Worth? (Federal Reserve Board-Mpls)
  • Annual consumer price index since 1913
  • Calculate value of dollar between any given year

Price Deflators - U.S.

• Gross Domestic Product Price Deflator (FRB - St. Louis)
  • Quarterly price deflator data since the first quarter, 1947

Consumer Price Indexes - International

• Foreign Price Indexes
  • International Labor Office
    • Time series of annual data for individual countries are located in its DATA/YEARLY section
    • Price indexes for all goods and for various sectors
  • The World Development Indicators (UMich Only) provides historical CPI for individual nations beginning with 1960
• Import and Export Price Indexes (BLS)
  • International price indexes for goods imported into or exported from the United States
  • For the world as a whole or by region region
  • Data may be formatted in several different ways to facilitate analysis

Comparative Living Costs - United States

• BankRate
  • Type in current salary and U.S. city to determine the equivalent salary in another U.S. city
• Best Places Net
  • Compare two U.S. cities by crime, housing, economic, education, health and climate factors
  • Compare climates in foreign countries
• Best Places to Live (Money Magazine)
  • Ranks 300 cities to live by economy, health, crime, housing, education, weather,leisure, transit, arts
  • City pages include a description and relocation information as well as statistical data on the quality of life and the cost of living
  • Interactive interface permits the user to create own rankings
• Cost of Living Index (American Chamber of Commerce)
  • Compares total costs between urban areas with component data ongroceries, housing, utilities, transportation, health care, and miscellaneous goods
  • 100=average so 1.25 would indicate an urban area was 25% more expensive than average
  • Individual prices for various goods and services also given
  • Participation in the program is voluntary so not all urban areas are included
  • Doc.Cen. HD 6983 .A67
• Defense Department Official Per Diem Rates
  • U.S. and foreign travel allowances for lodging and food
  • Arranged by state/city or country/city
  • Can be used, in part, to calculate comparative living costs
• Domestic Per Diem Rates (General Services Administration)
  • Food and lodging rates for federal travel in the United States by city
  • Archived data back to 1995
• EIU City Data (UMich Only)
  • Covers major cities in the U.S. and abroad
  • Provides cost of individual consumer products or services in local currency or U.S. or Euro dollars since 1990
  • Food products, alcohol and tobacco, rent, cost of maid service
• EPI Data Zone
  • Current family budgets for 400 metropolitan areas by size/type of family
• How Far Will My Salary go? (CNN Money)
  • Enter current salary and your closest city, then the city you want to compare
  • Will show the salary needed to obtain the same standard of living as well as changes in groceries, houskng, utilies, trasnportation and health care
• Interarea Price Levels: An Experimental Methodology
  • Article by Bettina Aten in the September 2006 issue of the Monthly Labor Review
  • Compares price levels for 38 metropolitan areas in 2003 and 2004
• Living Wage Calculator (MIT)
  • Hourly earnings to needed to living minimally for each city and county in the United States
  • Living wage and poverty wages given for one and two adults with one to three children as well as the state's minimum wage
  • Typical expenses for each place includes food, child care, medical, housing, transportation and taxes
  • Typical hourly wages given for 21 industries (e.g. food preparation, legal, architecture, farming)
• Numbeo
  • Probably the most comprehensive tool for comparing the cost of living in U.S. cities and cities abroad
  • Choose two cities to compare housing, utilities, grocery foods, restaurant meals, etc.
  • Other sections of the web site include pollution, travel, crime, traffic, health care
• Office of Personnel Management
  • Federal pay rates for U.S. cities searchable by GS level
• Places Rated Almanac
  • Rates living costs of 343 metropolitan areas on a relative scale, with 1 being least expensive and 343 being most expensive
  • Overall rating and individual ratings for housing, utilites, taxes, college tuition, food, health, and transportation
  • Not on the web; located in the Documents Center: HN 60.B79 1993b - Ref.
• Relocation Salary Calculator
  • Type in your job and future city or zip code to determine your value in a new location
• Runzheimer International is a private company which rates cities for cost of living in the U.S. and abroad for a fee
  • No free data on its web site
  • Search Google using the term "Runzheimer" and "cost-of-living" to identify web pages with articles comparing living costs
• Virtual Relocation
  • Compares cost of living index (100=average) between any two of 800 U.S. cities
  • Includes comparisons on 2000 square foot homes, property and sales taxes, income tax, median household income, crime, education, auto insurance and the weather

Comparative Living Costs - International

• Best Places Net
  • Compare two U.S. cities by crime, housing, economic, education, health and climate factors
  • Compare climates in foreign countries
• Defense Department Official Per Diem Rates
  • U.S. and foreign travel allowances for lodging and food
  • Arranged by state/city or country/city
  • Can be used, in part, to calculate comparative living costs
• EIU City Data (UMich Only)
  • Covers major cities in the U.S. and abroad
  • Provides cost of individual consumer products or services in local currency or U.S. or Euro dollars since 1990
  • Food products, alcohol and tobacco, rent, cost of maid service
• Newsbreak - Relocation Journal
  • Articles on relocation costs and travel within the United States and abroad
  • Some issues list comparative costs
  • Archived beginning January 1996
• Maximum Travel Per Diem Allowances for Foreign Areas (State Dept)
  • Maximum housing and food allowances for federal civilian personnel travelling abroad
  • Arranged by country and city
  • Suggests relative living costs
  • Could be used with the GSA's Domestic Per Diem Rates to compare the U.S. with foreign cities
• Numbeo
  • Probably the most comprehensive tool for comparing the cost of living in U.S. cities and cities abroad
  • Choose two cities to compare housing, utilities, grocery foods, restaurant meals, etc.
  • Other sections of the web site include pollution, travel, crime, traffic, health care
• Runzheimer International is a private company which rates cities for cost of living in the U.S. and abroad for a fee
  • No data available on its web site free of charge
  • Search Google using the term "Runzheimer" and "cost-of-living" to identify web pages with articles comparing living costs

Construction Costs

• Turner Construction Cost Index
  • Commercial construction cost index based on 1967=100
  • Quarterly data shows index number and percent change from previous year
  • National data only
• Building Design and Construction
  • Monthly periodical with construction costs per square foot for various types of commercial buildings for major cities
  • It may be difficult to find the data in the free web version
  • Use Documents Center Microfiche SRI C8052-6 or printed version: TH 1 .B924
• Building Construction Cost Data (Means)
  • Available at the Art, Architecture and Engineering Library (TH 435 .B93)
  • Change Notices (UMich Only) for costs and city surcharges

Producer Price Indexes - United States

• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • Measures the rate of price change in wholesale commodities or price changes by stage of processing
  • Producer Price Index home page provides current press releases
  • Data section provides various options for time series data back to 1986
• Economic Time Series (Ted Bos)
  • See bottom of page for monthly producer price indexes for various unfinished and finished goods as well as intermediate processes
  • Time series begin with 1947

Child-Rearing Costs

• Expenditures on Children by Families (USDA)
  • Estimates of the annual cost of raising a child through 18
  • Data arranged by family income, age of child, and type of expense (housing, food, education)
  • Annual reports archived since 1995

Grace York, Retired Documents Librarian
University of Michigan Library
Ankur Mehta, Documents Assistant, May 2002
Graphics by Sherry Piontek and Barbara Perles

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~graceyor/govdocs/steccpi.html