Education · July 2026
Inflation is a percentage.Your life runs in dollars.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is how the country tracks price change. Most people still have to translate that into rent, groceries, healthcare, and what is left at month’s end. TrueCOLA’s public work is to do that translation openly: dollars in, required costs out, margin left over, every district, every month.
The problem we are trying to solve
Official inflation coverage almost always leads with a rate: up 2%, up 3%, cooling, heating. That is the right language for markets and statistical agencies. It is a hard language for a family deciding whether this month’s paycheck covers the same roof, care, and basics as last year.
Literacy research shows that large shares of U.S. adults struggle with complex documents and quantitative text. You do not need a specialized study to know what follows in practice: when the national story is a percentage, many people never get a clear answer to “so what does that mean for a household like mine?”
TrueCOLA exists for that gap. We do not replace the CPI. We sit beside it and answer a different question, in the unit people already use: dollars.
Two languages for the same economy
CPI language
How prices changed
- Index of a fixed basket of goods and services
- Usually reported as a percent change over time
- Essential for markets, policy, and many COLA formulas
- Does not show one household’s leftover dollars this month
TrueCOLA language
What is left in dollars
- Income, taxes, and essential costs assembled on equal terms
- A monthly margin: dollars left (or short) after required costs
- Seven household types, renter and homeowner tracks
- Every state and all 435 congressional districts, every month
A live example from this month
Figures below are national TrueCOLA results for July 2026, renter track where shown. They are not a CPI rate.
Two adults · national · renter margin
-$1,949
Monthly dollars left after required costs in the published two-adult national path for July 2026.
Median household · national · renter margin
-$947
The same idea for the median household group: one number a reader can compare to a paycheck, not only to a rate.
| Household type | Renter margin |
|---|---|
| One adult | -$2,463 |
| Two adults | -$1,949 |
| Median household | -$947 |
| Senior 65+ | -$516 |
| Senior couple 65+ | +$1,934 |
| Social Security | -$2,925 |
| Two Social Security | -$2,867 |
Source: TrueCOLA July 2026 national table. Full district detail is free at /districts/ and the monthly report.
Why this is hard to find elsewhere
The United States has excellent official price and income statistics. What remains rare in public form is a single, free, monthly product that turns those sources into a household margin in dollars, for multiple household types, with permanent pages for every congressional district.
That is the niche TrueCOLA fills. We are not a political campaign. We do not tell anyone how to vote. We publish the arithmetic in public so more people can participate in cost-of-living conversations without needing to be inflation specialists first.
Common questions
What is the CPI?+
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is an official measure of how the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services change over time. It is usually reported as a percentage change, such as “prices rose 3%.” Government agencies, markets, and many cost-of-living adjustments use it.
Why do percentages confuse people?+
A percentage answers how prices changed, not how many dollars are left after rent, healthcare, taxes, and other required costs. Paychecks and bills arrive in dollars. Many readers can follow a monthly shortfall or surplus more easily than an abstract rate.
Is TrueCOLA a replacement for the CPI?+
No. The CPI is an authoritative price index. TrueCOLA is a different lens: a transparent household-budget view that converts source measures into income, essential costs, and the monthly margin left over, by household type and place.
What does TrueCOLA show that a CPI release does not?+
TrueCOLA publishes a monthly dollar margin for seven household types, with renter and homeowner tracks, for every U.S. state and all 435 congressional districts. The goal is to make the cost of living legible in the same unit people use at the kitchen table: dollars.
Where do the numbers come from?+
Published figures are built from documented federal sources and, for current rent detail, a clearly labeled Zillow rent source. The website displays the published file; it does not invent or recalculate the engine’s results. Methodology and corrections are public.
Who is this for?+
Anyone who hears “inflation was X percent” and still cannot tell whether a household like theirs is ahead or behind this month: residents, journalists, educators, researchers, and policymakers who want a dollar view alongside the official index.
Help us teach the other two thirds
If you report, teach, research, or simply share numbers with neighbors, use the free district pages and the monthly report. Attribute True Cost Of Living Analysis Project (truecola.org). Pair the official CPI release with a plainly labeled household margin so readers see both the rate and the dollars.