How does the Consumer Price Index compare to the ACCRA Cost of Living Index?
The CPI measures price differences in goods and services over time, while the ACCRA index gauges price differences in goods and services from place to place. In other words, the CPI provides a measure of inflation, while the ACCRA Cost of Living Index provides cost comparisons between different cities based on a given moment in time. “If someone asks what the overall price of groceries over time is, we couldn’t answer that,” explained Erol Yildirim, COLI project manager at the Council for Community and Economic Research. “If I’m spending $13,000 in city A, how much does that translate for city B? That’s the question we’re trying to answer.
