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.
Chart 1 of 3 · Inflation
How fast are US prices rising?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
The inflation rate was 3.7% in September 2026: how much consumer prices changed from the same month a year earlier. Each point makes that comparison, back to 1914, the first year BLS can compare. Inflation peaked at 23.7% in June 1920 and at 14.8% in March 1980; the 9.1% of June 2022 was the highest since 1981. Prices fell as fast as 15.8% a year in 1921 and 10.7% in 1932. BLS collected no prices in October 2025, during a lapse in federal funding, so that month and October 2026 are missing.
How to read this chart
Each point compares consumer prices in a month with the same month a year earlier. A value of 3 means things cost about 3% more than a year before; below zero means prices fell. The chart shows how fast prices change, not how high they are.
Questions to discuss
- Find two times when inflation was highest. What was happening in the country then?
- If inflation falls from 8% to 3%, are prices going down, or just rising more slowly?
- Find a stretch when the line is below zero. Why might falling prices be bad news for workers and businesses?
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026
Open the chart and its numbersChart 2 of 3 · World
How fast has the world come online?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
73.6% of the world's people used the internet in 2025, up from 15.6% in 2005, the first year the World Bank gives a world figure. It counts people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months. The world figures are estimates by the International Telecommunication Union.
How to read this chart
Each point is the share of the world's people who used the internet at least once in the previous three months, as estimated by the International Telecommunication Union. The axis starts at zero, so the height shows the true share. The steeper the line, the faster people were coming online.
Questions to discuss
- About what share of the world was online in the first year on the chart, and in the latest year?
- Did the share grow faster in some years than others? What could have sped it up?
- Using the internet once in three months counts here. What does this number leave out about how people get online?
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators: Individuals using the Internet (% of population) (CC BY 4.0 (credit the World Bank)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
Open the chart and its numbersChart 3 of 3 · Wealth
What is the median household net worth by age?
The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.
In the Federal Reserve's 2025 survey, the typical (median) household headed by someone under 35 had a net worth of $32,820, and one headed by someone 35 to 44 had $156,000. The median was $254,670 for ages 45 to 54, $411,340 for 55 to 64, $431,900 for 65 to 74 and $504,600 for 75 and over, about 15 times the under-35s'. The median is the household in the middle: half have more and half less. Averages are much higher, because a few households are very rich. Net worth is what a household owns (homes, retirement accounts, stocks, businesses, cars, bank accounts) minus what it owes (mortgages, student and car loans, credit cards). The survey is taken every three years, and figures are in dollars of the survey year. People of different ages also lived through different times, so this compares age groups, not one household's path through life.
How to read this chart
Each bar is the median net worth of households, grouped by the age of the person who heads them. Net worth is what a household owns, such as a home, savings and retirement accounts, minus what it owes, such as a mortgage or student loans. The median is the household in the middle: half have more and half have less.
Questions to discuss
- Which age group has the highest median net worth, and about how many times the under-35 group's is it?
- Why might net worth keep rising through most of a working life, and why might it fall for the oldest group?
- A few very rich households pull the average far above the median. Why is the median a better picture of a typical household?
Source: Federal Reserve Board, Survey of Consumer Finances (Public domain (Federal Reserve Board; cite the Board as the source)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2025
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