The Digest most often uses the Consumer Price Index to compare purchasing power over time. To compute a price index, a base year or period is selected. The base year price is then designated as the base or reference price to which the prices for other years or periods are related. When 100 is subtracted from the index number, the result equals the percent change in price from the base year. Unless otherwise noted, all figures are in current dollars, not adjusted for inflation.
Constant dollars provide a measure of the impact of inflation on the current dollars.
Any changes in the constant dollar amounts would reflect only changes in the real values. Tables may not include data for all years implied in table titles.