The Consumer Price Index “is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services,” according to the Bureau of Labor ...

The Social Security Administration looks at year-over-year changes to the CPI-W. It does this specifically for data from the third quarter of the year (the months of July, August, and September). The ...

Key CPI-W data needed to calculate the 2026 COLA will now be announced on Oct. 24. The purchasing power of Social Security benefits has decreased over the years. The government shutdown has affected ...

The report shows food items like instant coffee and beef are getting pricier. Instant coffee prices in September were about ...