About this Project

Groceries: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index, Average Price Data

Housing: Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI) and Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), U.S. Energy Information Administration Electric Average Price

Gasoline: U.S. Energy Information Administration Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Update

Airfare: U.S. Department of Transportation Consumer Airfare Report Table 1a

Metro Area Definitions: U.S. Census Bureau

Regional Definitions: U.S. Energy Information Administration, U.S. Census Bureau

All data sources are updated monthly, except for gasoline which is updated weekly and airfare which is updated quarterly.

We used Census Bureau American Community Survey 2023 data to determine the 100 largest metro areas in the United States, including the state and region where they are located. We limited the tracker to the top 100 metro areas because some data for smaller areas was inconsistent. About 67% of the U.S. population lives in the top 100 metro areas.

Housing data is available at the metro-area level. Electricity data is available at the state level. Grocery data is available at the regional level, as defined by the Census Bureau. Gasoline data is available at the regional level, as defined by the Energy Information Administration. Airfare data is available at the route level. The available geographic level is indicated on each chart and in the text.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which provides the most accurate federal estimates of grocery prices for shoppers, does not collect data for every region every month. This is due to a number of factors, including staffing resources and the availability of comparable items in each region. This data is expected to become less consistent in the coming months, due to data collection cuts at the BLS. Missing monthly data is noted in each region’s chart. BLS posts methodology changes, as well as some reasons why these numbers may not line up with your experience.

The tracker displays popular grocery items that have the most complete data for the years analyzed (2015 to the most recent available month). Because of the lack of available data for certain items, including many vegetables, the tracker does not display individual prices for every item tracked by BLS. However, dozens of products, including every major food group, are included in the overall grocery price (BLS’s Consumer Price Index for all Urban Consumers, known as CPI-U, data) calculations displayed.

Special note: The BLS does not have egg pricing data available for the Western region (which includes California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Montana, and Wyoming). For California metro areas, we offer a link to data on wholesale egg pricing provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). As it is wholesale data, it does not reflect the final cost for consumers and should not be compared to BLS egg price data for other regions. We have included this data for the state of California only, and it offers a snapshot of price changes in the state.

Each airfare route is the ticket cost averaged for air traffic in either direction. For example, a flight from JFK to LAX includes the average cost of LAX to JFK. The original data lists route prices per calendar year quarter. Quarter 1 is January through March, Quarter 2 is April through June, Quarter 3 is July through September and Quarter 4 is October through December.

Housing values have been adjusted by Zillow to account for variations due to seasonal changes and other irregularities. Electricity prices have been updated with the X13ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment for the same reasons. All other prices are not seasonally adjusted.

Inflation is the overall rate of increase in prices of goods and services over time. Simply put, it measures how the same amount of money buys less now than it did in the past. For example, $1.00 in January 1995 would be worth $2.11 in January 2025. Inflation-adjusted prices measure how much more expensive a particular item has grown relative to other costs.

Grocery inflation adjustments are calculated using the inflation rates for each region from the BLS CPI-U. When available, all other inflation adjustments are calculated using the BLS CPI for all Urban Consumers - Research Series (CPI-U-RS), not seasonally adjusted, to account for changes in methodology made since 2015. The CPI-U, not seasonally adjusted, is used when the CPI-U-RS is not available. All inflation indexes are calculated with 2015 as the base year.

Values from previous years are not adjusted for inflation, except where stated in the text. Figures in the charts are not adjusted for inflation.