True Cost Of Living Analysis Project

Inflation is generally reported as a percentage. Household bills arrive in dollars. Official sources describe prices, income, housing, taxes, and healthcare in detail, but none publishes a single recurring answer to one question: after the required costs are paid, what is left?

TrueCOLA brings those source measures together on common terms and reports the result on a fixed monthly schedule. It is a different lens from the Consumer Price Index, and it is not a replacement for it.

The research engine and the public website have separate functions. The engine retrieves documented source data, applies version-controlled Python functions, and subjects the result to automated checks. The website displays the published figures. It does not calculate them.

Federal sources provide the foundation. Where no federal source offers current rent data at the level of detail required, the report identifies the Zillow rent input plainly and preserves its source conditions. The methodology documents the rules, and the corrections log keeps every change on the public record.

TrueCOLA does not recommend what wages, benefits, or cost-of-living adjustments should be. It does not endorse candidates, forecast votes, or advise anyone how to vote.

The same measures are published for every district, on the same schedule, by the same method. Readers, reporters, employers, public officials, and voters draw their own conclusions about what the figures mean.