The Fact
BLS says the Consumer Price Index is a statistical average of price changes for urban consumers and may not reflect the experience of a particular family or individual, especially when that household’s spending pattern differs from the average.
What This Means
A person can truthfully experience expenses rising faster than the headline CPI without the CPI being fraudulent. The national average and an individual household budget are different measurements.
Sources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Why the Published Averages Don’t Always Match an Individual’s Inflation Experience”: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/factsheets/averages-and-individual-experiences-differ.htm