Question 1

Why does Nowflation differ from official CPI?

Accepted Answer

Nowflation reads 1.72% while official CPI reads 4.2% mainly because the BLS measures shelter with a 12-14 month survey lag while Nowflation prices new leases and current mortgage costs today, plus daily market prices versus a monthly survey.

Question 2

Is the official CPI wrong?

Accepted Answer

No. The BLS measures what it says it measures. Its shelter method is lagged by design and its collection cycle is monthly. Nowflation measures the same economy with today’s market prices. Both are true; they answer different questions.

Question 3

Why trust an independent inflation index?

Accepted Answer

Verify instead: every source is public and named, the methodology is versioned with a public changelog, historical values are never silently revised, and every CPI forecast is graded publicly after each print next to the Cleveland Fed, Street consensus, and Kalshi.

Question 4

What data goes into the Nowflation gauge?

Accepted Answer

227 series from 23 public sources: Zillow and Apartment List rents, AAA pump prices, Manheim and BLS vehicle data, USDA food data, EIA energy, and official series where no better daily market source exists.

Component	Ours YoY	BLS YoY
Shelter: Rent	+0.8%	+2.9%
Electricity	+8.4%	+5.9%
Utility Gas	-5.6%	+3.0%

Why the Nowflation gauge (1.72%) differs from official CPI (4.2%)

Component decomposition (2026-05)