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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/images/favicon.ico"> <title>Measuring Worth - Measures of worth, inflation rates, saving calculator, relative value, worth of a dollar, worth of a pound, purchasing power, gold prices, GDP, history of wages, average wage</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <link href="/includes/styles.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css"> <meta name="keywords" content="measuring worth, inflation rates, saving calculator, relative value, worth of a dollar, worth of a pound, purchasing power, gold prices, GDP, history of wages, average wage, real wage, growth calculator, stock prices, historic stock prices, exchange calculator, stock growth rates, how much is that worth, CPI, RPI, exchange rates, relative worth, consumer bundle, interest rates, S&P accumulation, history of gold prices"> <script type="text/JavaScript">  </script> </head> <body> <div id="container"> <link rel="icon" type="image/x-icon" href="/images/favicon.ico">  <div id="header"> <div style="height:70px;padding-top:20px;"><a href="/index.php" title="MeasuringWorth.com"><img src="/images/logo.png" alt="Measuring Worth, inflation rates, saving calculator, relative value, worth of a dollar, worth of a pound, purchasing power, gold prices, GDP, history of wages, average wage, real wage, growth calculator" width="400" height="43" vspace="10" border="0" align="left" ></a></div> <ul class="menudd"> <li><a href="/index.php">HOME</a></li> <li><a href="/aboutus.php">ABOUT US</a> <ul> <li><a href="/2020x-citations-with-links.html" class="documents">CITATIONS</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/guide.php">USER GUIDES</a> <ul> <li><a href="/guide.php" class="documents">GUIDE</a></li> <li><a href="/tutorials.php" class="messages">TUTORIALS</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/glossary/index.php">GLOSSARY & FAQ</a> <ul> <li><a href="/glossary/index.php" class="documents">GLOSSARY</a></li> <li><a href="/glossary/index.php#faq" class="messages">FAQ</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="/essays.php">ESSAYS</a> <ul> <li><a style="width:400px;" href="/explaining_measures_of_worth.php" class="documents">MEASURES OF WORTH</a></li> <li><a style="width:400px;" href="/slavery.php" class="messages">MEASURING SLAVERY</a></li> <li><a style="width:400px;" href="/Presidents.php" class="documents">THE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE OF PRESIDENTS</a></li> <li><a style="width:400px;" href="/parable-two-workers.php" class="messages">PARABLE OF SAVING</a></li> <li><a style="width:400px;" href="/uk-gdp-volatility.php" class="messages">THE VOLATILITY OF THE UK GDP</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="/contribute_donate.php">SUPPORT US</a></li> <li><a href="/sendcomment.php">CONTACT US</a></li> </ul> <p class="blog-announcement"> </p> </div>  <style type="text/css"> /* HOW TO CREATE A CSS3 DROPDOWN MENU [TUTORIAL] "How to create a CSS3 Dropdown Menu [Tutorial]" was specially made for DesignModo by our friend Valeriu Timbuc. 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For this series, the base period is the 1982-84 annual average. The series extends the Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U (consumer price index for all urban consumers) series back in time. The “official” CPI series published by the begins in 1913 and is reported monthly. The annual data we report are the average of the 12 months of observations. Improvements to the official series have been made here; thus the CPI series here is identical to the BLS series only from 1978 onward. </p> <p>Although the CPI may be the most popular and best-known price series, any CPI series is beset with limitations. A long-run series, such as the one presented here, has these limitations magnified, and also has difficulties of its own. Among these problems are: (1) The CPI pertains only to commodities purchased by consumers; it is not a price index of all production or all consumption in the economy. (2) It is difficult to account for changing qualities of commodities and introduction of new commodities over time. (3) A CPI is only as good as the basic price and weight (expenditure) data. In general, these data are less available and of lower quality as one goes further into the past.</p> <p><i><b>“The MeasuringWorth web site provides by far the best measure of the history of U.S. consumer prices all the way back to 1774. Where alternative measures are available for particular historical intervals, MeasuringWorth has chosen the series that best reflect decades of price research. Other web sites are in part based on price series that were developed fifty or more years ago and do not reflect the consensus of modern research.”</b></i><br> Robert J Gordon, Stanley G. Harris Professor in the Social Sciences, Northwestern University, Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, Member of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee. </p> <p>For a further discussion of the limitations of the CPI, and for a detailed exposition of the development of this CPI series, please read <a class="content" href="#" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('http://www.measuringworth.com/docs/cpistudyrev.pdf','','scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,width=600,height=600')"> What Was the Consumer Price Index Then? A Data Study (349K PDF)</a>.<br> <br> <p> Please read our <a href="#" class="content" onClick="MM_openBrWindow('/includes/datarevisionsnote.php','','scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,width=450,height=300')"> Note on Data Revisions</a>.</p> <br> <br> </p> <center><h4>Citation</h4></center> <p align="center">Lawrence H. Officer and Samuel H. Williamson, "The Annual Consumer Price Index for the United States, 1774-Present," MeasuringWorth, <script>document.write(new Date().getFullYear())</script>. <br>URL: http://www.measuringworth.com/uscpi/ </p> <hr /><p> Please <a href="/sendcomment.php" class="content" title="Let us know how we can be more helpful">let us know</a> if and how this discussion has assisted you in using our calculators.<br><br></p> </div> </div>  <div id="navigation">      <a href="/blog.php" target="_blank"><img style="width:200px;" src="/images/blog-read.png"></a> <br> <a class='navigation' href="/calculators/index.php" title="Calculate purchasing power, savings growth, stock growth rates and more">THE COMPARATORS</a><br> <div class='submenu'> <a class='submenu' title="Measuring Worth - Annualized Growth Rates" href='/growth/'>Annualized Growth Rates</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US Purchasing Power" href='/ppowerus/'>Purchasing Power Today - US $</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US Relative Values" href='/uscompare/'>Relative Values - US $</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="UK Relative Values" href='/ukcompare/'>Relative Values - UK £</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Australian Relative Values" href='/australiacompare/'>Relative Values - Australia £ and $</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Australian Relative Values" href='/spaincompare/'>Relative Values - Spain</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Convert dollars to pounds" href='/exchange/'>Conversion ($ and £)</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="UK Purchasing Power" href='/ppoweruk/'>Purchasing Power - UK £</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US Savings Growth" href='/ussave/'>Savings Growth - US $</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US Savings Growth" href='/401k&IRA/'>401k & IRA Growth - US</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Calculate inflation rates" href='/inflation/'>Inflation Rates</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Stock Growth Rates - DJIA, SP500 & NASDAQ" href='/DJIA_SP_NASDAQ/'>Stock Growth Rates<br />  (DJIA, SP500 & NASDAQ)</a> </div> <a class='navigation' title="Graph the value of things over time" href="/graphs/">GRAPHS</a><br> <a class='navigation' title="Data sets for measuring worth" href="/datasets/index.php">DATA SETS</a><br> <div class='submenu'> <a class='submenu' title="US GDP over time" href='/usgdp/'>GDP - US </a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US CPI over time" href='/uscpi/'>CPI - US</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US wage over time" href='/uswage/'>Wage - US</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US Consumer Bundle over time" href='/consumer/'>Consumer Bundle - US</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="UK GDP over time" href='/ukgdp/'>GDP - UK </a><br> <a class='submenu' title="UK RPI & earnings over time" href='/ukearncpi/'>RPI & Earnings - UK</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Spain GDP over time" href='/spaingdp/'>GDP, Prices & Wages - Spain </a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Australia GDP, Prices & Stocks over time" href='/datasets/australiadata/'>GDP, Prices & Stocks - Australia</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Chinese GDP & Prices over time" href='/auswages/'>Wages - Australia </a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US SAP over time" href='/datasets/sap/'>Annual S&P Index</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Daily DJA over time" href='/datasets/DJA/index.php'>Daily DJA</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="price of gold over time" href='/gold/'>Price of Gold</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="US & UK Interest Rates over time" href='/interestrates/'>Interest Rates - US & UK</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Dollar Exchange Rates over time" href='/exchangeglobal/'>Dollar Exchange Rates</a><br> <a class='submenu' title="Dollar-Pound Exchange Rate over time" href='/exchangepound/'>Dollar-Pound Exchange Rate</a> </div> <a class='navigation' title="Data sets for measuring worth" href="/newsletter.php">SIGN UP FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS</a><br>  </div>   <div id="footer"> <div class="footer-header">MeasuringWorth is a service for calculating relative worth over time.</div> <p><a class='footer' href="../index.php" title="Measuring Worth home page">Home</a> | <a class='footer' href="/aboutus.php" title="Learn more about the Measuring Worth project">About Us</a> | <a class='footer' href="/sendcomment.php" title="Contact the Measuring Worth staff">Contact Us</a> | <a class='footer' href="/contribute_donate.php" title="Contribute to the Measuring Worth project">Support Our Work</a><br /><br /> Copyright © <script>document.write(new Date().getFullYear())</script> MeasuringWorth. 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