Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. Where did home prices rise most in the last year?
  2. Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?

Chart 1 of 2 · Housing

Where did home prices rise most in the last year?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In the year to June 2026, the change in home prices was highest in Hawaii (8.7%), West Virginia (8.0%) and Illinois (6.0%), on FHFA's index, and lowest in Colorado (0.2%) and District of Columbia (-0.6%); across the U.S. it was 3.0%. The index follows repeat sales and refinance appraisals of the same single-family houses with mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, is not adjusted for inflation, and can swing more in small states with fewer sales.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), House Price Index, all-transactions index by state (Public domain (U.S. government work; FHFA)) · Data as of Jun 30, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · Road safety

Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

In 2024 there were 1.19 deaths for every 100 million miles driven, down from 3.35 in 1980. The lowest rate was 1.08 in 2014; it jumped to 1.34 in 2020, when people drove less but deaths rose. Miles driven are the Federal Highway Administration's estimates.

How to read this chart

Each point is the number of people killed in traffic crashes for every 100 million miles Americans drove that year. Dividing by miles driven turns a count into a rate, so years when people drove more or less can be compared fairly.

Questions to discuss

  1. About what fraction of the 1980 rate is the rate in the latest year?
  2. In 2020 people drove less, but the rate went up. What could explain that?
  3. Why is deaths per mile a fairer way to compare years than the total number of deaths?

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024

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