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Last updated on November 4th, 2026

Just for fun

Was I better off? compares public numbers for fun and curiosity. It is not financial, legal, or political advice, and a national average may not match your own life.

The numbers

We pull the numbers from public sources and some are estimates. They can be late, revised, or wrong, and we make no promise that they are complete or accurate.

Using the site

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Your suggestions

If you send us an idea, we may use it without owing you anything.

No warranty

The site is provided as is. To the extent the law allows, we are not liable for anything that comes from using it.

Are you better off than you were four years ago? Ronald Reagan, October 28, 1980.

Numbers come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Department of Labor, and the World Bank (World Development Indicators, CC BY 4.0). Prices run through September 2026, retrieved November 4, 2026. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.

Home price is the median for new houses sold. Rent between census and survey years is an estimate, and milk before mid 1995 is scaled from half-gallon prices.

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