Where every dataset stands today
- Latest official releaseFreddie Mac mortgage ratesSep 17, 2026 · 5 days old
- Latest official releaseBLS CPI-U inflation indexAugust 2026 · 22 days old
- Latest official releaseEIA residential electricityJune 2026 · 3 months old
- A newer release is expectedEIA weekly gasolineSep 14, 2026 · 8 days old
- A newer release is expectedBLS grocery average pricesJuly 2026 · 2 months old
- Latest official releaseIRS and SSA tax parametersTax year 2026 · covers a period still running
- Latest official releaseIRS retirement limitsTax year 2026 · covers a period still running
- Latest official releaseIRS HSA and HDHP limitsTax year 2026 · covers a period still running
- Latest official releaseFHFA conforming loan limits2026 · covers a period still running
- Latest official releaseCensus ACS 5-year estimates2020–2024 ACS 5-Year / 2024 geography · 21 months old
- Latest official releaseHUD Fair Market RentsFY 2027 · covers a period still running
- Latest official releaseBEA Regional Price Parities2024 · 21 months old
- A newer release is expectedUSDA Food PlansJuly 2026 · 2 months old
- Latest official releaseGSA travel per diemFY 2027 · covers a period still running
- Latest official releaseNAIC insurance averages2023 · 3 years old
- Latest official releaseCMS Marketplace plan premiums2026 · covers a period still running
Pinned official rule tables
These are transcribed rule books with no weekly or monthly release to miss. Freshness is “still the figure in force,” not a cadence check.
- In forceVA funding fee chartsEffective 2023-04-07 · verified 2026-09-08
- In forceIRS Uniform Lifetime Table (RMD)Distribution year 2026 · verified 2026-09-08
- In force2026 ACA premium tax credit rulesCoverage year 2026 · verified 2026-09-05
- In force2026 Medicare premiums and IRMAACoverage year 2026 · verified 2026-09-05
Data scope: what we include vs. what we exclude
Calculators are only as dependable as their inputs. CostAnswer relies strictly on certified primary U.S. government and regulatory datasets. We deliberately exclude opaque proprietary risk models (such as auto insurer telematics) and local municipal tax variations that cannot be computed without a street-level geocode:
| Category | What the site includes | What it leaves out, and why |
|---|---|---|
| Income taxes and withholding | In scope Federal 7 brackets plus 50 states and D.C. IRS 2026 inflation adjustments (Revenue Procedure 2025-32), the FICA OASDI wage cap ($184,500), Medicare at 1.45% plus the 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax, standard deductions of $16,100 single and $32,200 married filing jointly, and statutory state income tax schedules for every state and D.C. Source: IRS, SSA, and state departments of revenue | Out of scope City and municipal income taxes, and itemised Schedule A deductions Thousands of local taxing districts (New York City, Yonkers, Philadelphia, Ohio RITA, Pennsylvania local earned income tax) key off a street address rather than a state. The state engines leave them out instead of guessing, and itemised deductions can be entered by hand where a calculator accepts them. |
| Mortgages and lending | In scope Freddie Mac weekly national survey and FHFA loan ceilings Freddie Mac PMMS national weekly averages for 30-year and 15-year fixed loans, the official FHFA county-by-county conforming loan limits for 2026 ($832,750 one-unit baseline, $1,249,125 in high-cost areas), and fixed-rate amortising annuity formulas. Source: Freddie Mac PMMS and FHFA | Out of scope Lender-specific pricing: LLPAs, discount points, and credit tiers A real offer depends on a private lender risk model, loan-level price adjustments, debt-to-income ratio, and any points bought at closing. The national average is a neutral starting point, and every mortgage tool lets you type in the exact rate you were quoted. |
| Healthcare and ACA subsidies | In scope CMS Marketplace landscape for 2,055 counties, under IRC § 36B Second-lowest-cost silver plan premiums for 2,055 counties across 30 HealthCare.gov states for plan year 2026, the federal poverty guidelines, the statutory sliding-scale contribution percentages, and Medicare Part B with IRMAA income brackets. Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and HHS | Out of scope State-run exchanges, off-exchange plans, health share ministries, and employer group tiers The CMS public use file covers the states that use HealthCare.gov. State-based exchanges publish separately, and off-exchange and employer plans set their own deductibles, copays, and networks, so none of them can be modelled from the federal file. |
| Auto and homeowners insurance | In scope NAIC state-by-state average expenditures Average annual premiums for all 50 states and D.C. for homeowners (HO-3) and renters (HO-4) policy forms, plus average auto expenditure per liability-insured car-year, from the 2023 reference year. Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners | Out of scope Telematics, driving records, and insurer credit scoring An actual quote comes out of a private actuarial model fed by vehicle telematics, claims history, credit tier, and neighbourhood hazard grids. The NAIC averages are budgeting context, not a quote, and the calculators say so. |
| Energy and fuel | In scope EIA weekly retail gasoline and monthly residential electricity Weekly retail regular gasoline prices for the national average, 9 PADD regions, and 9 separately published states, alongside average residential electricity prices in cents per kilowatt-hour for all 50 states and D.C. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration | Out of scope Live pump prices and time-of-use utility tariffs Station prices move hourly and differ street to street, and time-of-use electricity tariffs vary by hour, season, and consumption tier. The published averages are stable baselines, and every energy tool accepts the rate printed on your own bill. |
| Wages and compensation | In scope BLS OEWS percentiles for 387 metro areas May 2025 Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics covering 387 metropolitan statistical areas plus a national baseline and all 50 states and D.C., with 10th, 25th, 50th, 75th, and 90th percentile wages. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Out of scope Self-reported crowdsourced pay data Crowdsourced salary sites are voluntary and self-selecting, so their medians drift from the population they claim to describe. The wage pages bind to the BLS employer survey only. |
| Rents and cost of living | In scope HUD Fair Market Rents (FY2026 in force, FY2027 published) and Census ACS gross rents Statutory 40th and 50th percentile Fair Market Rents by bedroom count, from studio to four bedrooms, for every U.S. county, ACS 5-Year 2024 gross rent benchmarks, and BEA Regional Price Parities. Source: HUD, U.S. Census Bureau, and BEA | Out of scope Listing-site asking rents and short-term rental rates Listing aggregators track what is being asked for professionally managed units, which sits above the market. HUD Fair Market Rents and the ACS measure rent actually paid across the whole housing stock. |
How results are calculated: statutory rules and deterministic math
Every calculation on CostAnswer operates on a strict three-tier architecture that guarantees mathematical accuracy and transparency:
- 1. Zero generative hallucination: All outputs are produced by compiled, unit-tested deterministic math engines in
lib/calculations/. Generative AI models are strictly prohibited from evaluating numbers or guessing results. - 2. Primary statutory citations: Formulas adhere to federal statutes and official administrative guidance, including 26 U.S.C. (Internal Revenue Code § 1, § 36B, § 1401), Title 38 U.S.C. § 3729 (VA Home Loans), IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32, IRS Notice 2025-67, and Regulation Z amortization schedules.
- 3. Neutral benchmarks with user overrides: Federal data snapshots (e.g. Freddie Mac weekly mortgage rates or EIA state gas prices) serve as default regional benchmarks. Users can freely override any benchmark with their specific lender quote or actual utility bill.
- 4. Cryptographic proof of origin: Every stored government update is verified with SHA-256 hashes against committed schemas and manifests, guaranteeing that numbers cannot drift or be silently altered.
Historical progression: key U.S. economic benchmarks (1980 – 2026)
Track how foundational economic indicators, consumer price inflation, mortgage rates, standard deductions, and retirement caps have shifted over more than four decades:
| Year | CPI-U (1982-84=100) | $100 Then in 2026 $ | 30-Yr Mortgage | Standard Deduction (Single / MFJ) | 401(k) Cap | SS Wage Cap | FHFA Loan Limit | Regular Gas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 86.300 | $388.16 | 13.74% | $2,300 / $3,400 | — | $25,900 | $93,750 | $1.19/gal |
| 1990 | 133.800 | $250.36 | 10.13% | $3,250 / $5,450 | $7,979 | $51,300 | $187,450 | $1.16/gal |
| 2000 | 174.0 | $192.52 | 8.05% | $4,400 / $7,350 | $10,500 | $76,200 | $252,700 | $1.51/gal |
| 2010 | 219.179 | $152.83 | 4.69% | $5,700 / $11,400 | $16,500 | $106,800 | $417,000 | $2.79/gal |
| 2020 | 260.474 | $128.60 | 3.11% | $12,400 / $24,800 | $19,500 | $137,700 | $510,400 | $2.17/gal |
| 2024 | 315.605 | $106.14 | 6.81% | $14,600 / $29,200 | $23,000 | $168,600 | $766,550 | $3.52/gal |
| 2025 | 324.054 | $103.37 | 6.72% | $15,750 / $31,500 | $23,500 | $176,100 | $806,495 | $3.41/gal |
| Current (2026)In Force | 334.980 | $100.00 | 6.76% | $16,100 / $32,200 | $24,500 | $184,500 | $832,750 | $4.319/gal |
Current copy
Freddie Mac weekly mortgage rate averages
- Observation period
- 2026-09-17
- Source line
- Freddie Mac · Sep 17, 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- 5 days old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-21
- Provider schedule
- Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Thursdays at noon ET. Next release expected 2026-09-24.
- Source status
- preliminary
- Cadence
- weekly
- 30-year fixed
- 6.95%
- 15-year fixed
- 6.26%
Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), national weekly averages for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate mortgages.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- freddie-mac-pmms-2026-09-17-v1
- Adapter
- freddie-mac-pmms-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- Freddie Mac PMMS HTML contained FinancialProduct JSON-LD for 15-year and 30-year fixed rates.
- Both averages are dated 2026-09-17.
- Rates are finite percentages inside the 1–20 percent sanity bounds.
Current copy
BLS CPI-U all-items index
- Observation period
- 2026-08
- Source line
- BLS · August 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- 22 days old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-11
- Provider schedule
- Monthly, mid-month for the prior month. Next release expected 2026-10-13.
- Source status
- preliminary
- Cadence
- monthly
- Months
- 1363 published months since 1913
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (CUUR0000SA0).
- CPI-U NSA all-items observations are finite, positive, sorted, and unique.
- Monthly observations run from 1913-01 through 2026-08.
- 1363 finite positive index values.
- October 2025 was not published by BLS, so it is not offered as a starting month.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- bls-cpi-u-nsa-2026-08-v1
- Adapter
- bls-cpi-u-nsa-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
Current copy
EIA residential electricity prices by state
- Observation period
- 2026-06
- Source line
- EIA · June 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- 3 months old
- Last checked
- 2026-08-31
- Provider schedule
- Electric Power Monthly, about two months after the data month. Next release expected 2026-09-30.
- Source status
- preliminary
- Cadence
- monthly
- Geographies
- 51 states/DC rows
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-861M monthly estimates.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- eia-electricity-residential-2026-06-v1
- Adapter
- eia-retail-sales-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- Transport and API response schema passed.
- Residential sector and expected units confirmed.
- Exactly one row for each of 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- All price, sales and revenue values are finite and positive.
- Price approximately equals 100 × revenue ÷ sales for every geography.
Current copy
EIA weekly regular gasoline prices
- Observation period
- 2026-09-14
- Source line
- EIA · Sep 14, 2026
- Status
- A newer release is expected
- Age of this period
- 8 days old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-15
- Provider schedule
- Weekly survey taken Monday, published the same day. Next release expected 2026-09-22.
- Note
- The provider was due to publish again. This copy has not caught up yet.
- Source status
- preliminary
- Cadence
- weekly
- Geographies
- 19 U.S., PADD and selected-state series
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, weekly retail gasoline prices, regular all formulations.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- eia-gasoline-regular-weekly-2026-09-14-v1
- Adapter
- eia-gasoline-weekly-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- EIA Open Data API v2 petroleum/pri/gnd weekly regular all-formulations series parsed.
- Required PADD, selected-state and U.S. series are present with positive dollar-per-gallon prices.
- Official series IDs: EMM_EPMR_PTE_NUS_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R10_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R1X_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R1Y_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R1Z_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R20_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R30_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R40_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R50_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_R5XCA_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SCA_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SCO_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SFL_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SMA_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SMN_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SNY_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SOH_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_STX_DPG, EMM_EPMR_PTE_SWA_DPG.
Current copy
BLS average grocery staple prices
- Observation period
- 2026-07
- Source line
- BLS · July 2026
- Status
- A newer release is expected
- Age of this period
- 2 months old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-02
- Provider schedule
- Average Price Data, with the monthly CPI release. Next release expected 2026-09-12.
- Note
- The provider was due to publish again. This copy has not caught up yet.
- Source status
- preliminary
- Cadence
- monthly
- Items
- 25 national staples
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, U.S. city average and census regions.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- bls-apu-grocery-2026-07-v2
- Adapter
- bls-apu-grocery-v1.1.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- BLS public API response schema passed.
- 25 national staple series share observation month 2026-07.
- 9 items have complete same-month prices for all four census regions.
- Missing or stale regional series are omitted rather than filled with national substitutes.
Current copy
U.S. tax year snapshots
- Tax year
- 2026
- Source line
- IRS · Tax year 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-03
- Provider schedule
- Annual inflation adjustments, published the preceding autumn. Next release expected 2027-12-31.
- Source status
- verified
- Cadence
- yearly / manual
- Federal
- Revenue Procedure 2025-32
- Social Security wage base
- $184,500
- Supported states
- 51 of 51
Federal brackets and the standard deduction come from the IRS. The Social Security wage base comes from SSA. State rows are either a verified agency/statute schedule or an explicit unsupported marker. Unsupported states are omitted from the state tax line; they are not guessed. A later tax year is a new year-keyed file; it does not replace 2026.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- us-tax-2026-v1
- Adapter
- us-tax-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
Current copy
IRS retirement contribution limits
- Tax year
- 2026
- Source line
- IRS · Tax year 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-03
- Provider schedule
- Annual cost-of-living adjustments, published each autumn. Next release expected 2027-12-31.
- Source status
- verified
- Cadence
- yearly / manual
- 401(k) elective deferral
- $24,500
- Age 50+ catch-up
- $8,000
- Ages 60–63 catch-up
- $11,250
- Defined-contribution overall
- $72,000
- IRA
- $7,500 + $1,100 age 50+
- Roth catch-up wage threshold
- $150,000 prior-year FICA
IRS IR-2025-111 and Notice 2025-67. 2026 COLA limits for 401(k) elective deferrals, catch-up contributions, IRAs, and the section 415(c) defined-contribution overall limit. Context only; CostAnswer does not enforce these caps in growth math.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- irs-retirement-limits-2026-v1
- Adapter
- irs-retirement-limits-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- Elective deferral $24,500, IRA $7,500, and IRA age-50 catch-up $1,100 match IR-2025-111.
- Age-50 401(k) catch-up is $8,000; ages 60–63 catch-up is $11,250.
- Section 415(c) overall defined-contribution limit is $72,000.
- Section 401(a)(17) annual compensation limit is $360,000.
- 2026 Roth catch-up prior-year FICA wage threshold is $150,000. Displayed as context, not an eligibility engine.
Current copy
IRS HSA contribution limits and HDHP tests
- Calendar year
- 2026
- Source line
- IRS · Tax year 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-08
- Provider schedule
- Revenue Procedure each spring for the following calendar year’s HSA and HDHP amounts. Next release expected 2027-12-31.
- Self-only / family contribution
- $4,400 / $8,750
- Age-55 catch-up
- $1,000 (statutory, not inflated)
- HDHP minimum deductible
- $1,700 / $3,400
- HDHP maximum out-of-pocket
- $8,500 / $17,000
IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-19, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2025-21. 2026 HSA contribution limits and HDHP deductible / out-of-pocket ceilings. The $1,000 age-55 catch-up is IRC §223(b)(3), which is not inflation-adjusted.
Current copy
FHFA conforming loan limit values
- Loan year
- 2026
- Source line
- FHFA · 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-08
- Provider schedule
- Conforming loan limit values for the coming calendar year, announced each November. Next release expected 2027-09-08.
- Effective window
- 2026-01-01 to 2026-12-31
- One-unit baseline / ceiling
- $832,750 / $1,249,125
- Counties
- 3,235 across 56 states and territories
Federal Housing Finance Agency, Conforming Loan Limit Values for Calendar Year 2026. A November announcement is not in force before 1 January. Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Virgin Islands can exceed the mainland ceiling.
Current copy
Census geography and ACS 5-Year estimates
- Geography snapshot
- census-omb-geography-2024-v1
- ACS snapshot
- census-acs5-2024-v1
- Source line
- Census · 2020–2024 ACS 5-Year / 2024 geography
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- 21 months old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-03
- Provider schedule
- ACS 5-year estimates, each December. Next release expected 2026-12-11.
- Survey years
- 2020-2024
- Searchable places
- 717 OMB principal cities
ACS values are survey estimates for 2020–2024, not live counts. Population and median household income are context. Median household income is not the user’s salary. Sentinel Census values are stored as missing, not as zero. Names are never geographic identity; the engine uses FIPS, GEOID, CBSA, and HUD area codes.
Current copy
HUD Fair Market Rents
- Currently effective
- hud-fmr-fy2026-revised-2026-05-21-v1
- Latest published
- hud-fmr-fy2027-v1
- Source line
- HUD · FY 2027
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-03
- Provider schedule
- Fair Market Rents for the coming fiscal year, published late summer. Next release expected 2027-09-01.
- Effective window
- 2025-10-01 to 2026-09-30
HUD Fair Market Rent is a 40th-percentile gross-rent benchmark for a HUD FMR area. It is not average asking rent and not a typical listing. Gross rent includes shelter plus most tenant-paid utilities, so the cost-of-living model does not add a household electric bill on top. FY2027 can be published before it is effective; the calculator uses the currently effective fiscal year. HUD geography is not the same as city limits, and it is not automatically the same as a CBSA.
Current copy
BEA Regional Price Parities
- Reference year
- 2024
- Source line
- BEA · 2024
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- 21 months old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-03
- Provider schedule
- Regional Price Parities, annual. Next release expected 2027-02-19.
- National
- 100
RPP is a regional price-level index for a given year. 100 is the U.S. average for that year. 106 means prices in BEA’s consumption mix are about 6% above the national level. It is not a household budget, and a change from 2023 to 2024 is not an inflation rate. The cost-of-living model shows RPP as context. It does not multiply HUD, EIA, or USDA dollar amounts by RPP.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- bea-rpp-2024-v1
Current copy
USDA Food Plans
- Report month
- 2026-07
- Source line
- USDA · July 2026
- Status
- A newer release is expected
- Age of this period
- 2 months old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-03
- Provider schedule
- Monthly food plan cost reports. Next release expected 2026-08-31.
- Note
- The provider was due to publish again. This copy has not caught up yet.
- Default plan
- Moderate-Cost
Food Plans are official food-at-home planning baskets, not restaurant spending and not all household food. Household-size adjustments are USDA’s published factors. Alaska and Hawaii official extras in this copy are for the Thrifty reference family only. BLS grocery staples remain a separate item-price dataset; they do not include household quantities, so they are not used as a city grocery budget.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- usda-food-plans-2026-07-v1
How to read this
Electricity prices are average residential rates, not your utility rate. Gasoline prices are EIA weekly regular averages for a state or PADD region, not a pump. Grocery staples are BLS average retail prices for the U.S. city average or a census region; they are not a household food budget. Mortgage rates are Freddie Mac national weekly averages, not a lender quote. CPI-U is the average urban price level, not your personal basket. Tax results are estimated annual liability from published IRS, SSA, and state schedules, not a prepared return or employer withholding. HUD FMR is a gross-rent benchmark, not listing rent. BEA RPP is a spatial price index, not inflation. USDA Food Plans are food at home. NAIC insurance figures are state averages over policies already written, not a quote, an offer of coverage, or a prediction of your renewal. None of this is Walmart, Kroger, Costco, or a weekly circular.
When it updates
A normal new period can go live after the checks pass. Odd unit changes, missing states, duplicates, or big jumps wait for a person to look. If a check fails, the last good copy stays on the site. Tax snapshots and IRS retirement-limit copies are yearly official releases, not a weekly fetch. Census, HUD, and BEA are annual; an old reference year is not automatically stale. NAIC publishes each data year two to three years later, so its copy is measured against the release we last confirmed is the newest, not against the year the figures describe. HUD effectiveness is separate from publication: a future fiscal year can be on file without becoming the default. Source status (preliminary, final, revised, or verified) is not the same as freshness (fresh or stale).
Current copy
GSA travel per diem, continental U.S.
- Currently effective
- gsa-perdiem-conus-fy2026-v1
- Latest published
- gsa-perdiem-conus-fy2027-v1
- Source line
- GSA · FY 2027
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-14
- Provider schedule
- Per diem rates for the coming federal fiscal year, effective each 1 October. Next release expected 2027-10-01.
- Source status
- verified
- Effective window
- 2025-10-01 to 2026-09-30
- Destinations
- 346 CONUS localities and state standard rates
- M&IE tiers
- $68 · $74 · $80 · $86 · $92
- First and last day
- 75% of the daily M&IE rate, as published by GSA
Source: U.S. General Services Administration, FY2026 per diem rates for the continental United States (CONUS). A ZIP code is not a GSA field: it is mapped through the Census ZCTA-to-county file, and a county GSA does not list on its own takes that state’s standard CONUS rate. When GSA carves a city out of a county, a ZIP cannot tell them apart, so both rates are offered. FY tables can be on file before 1 October; the calculator uses the currently effective fiscal year.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- gsa-perdiem-conus-fy2026-v1
- Adapter
- gsa-perdiem-conus-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- 346 CONUS destinations across 49 states and D.C., each with twelve monthly lodging caps.
- 48 per-state standard rates cover any locality GSA does not list separately.
- 159 destinations have seasonal lodging caps, so a trip is priced month by month.
- M&IE totals resolve to 5 published tiers, each summing to its meal components.
- Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories and foreign locations are not in this dataset. Those are set by DoD and the State Department, not GSA.
Current copy
CMS Marketplace plan premiums by county
- Observation period
- 2026 plan year
- Source line
- CMS · 2026
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- covers a period still running
- Last checked
- 2026-09-05
- Provider schedule
- Individual Market Medical Landscape file, published for each plan year before open enrollment. Next release expected 2027-09-05.
- Source status
- published
- Cadence
- yearly / manual
- Geographies
- 2,055 counties across 30 HealthCare.gov states
- Published ages
- child, 18, 21, 27, 30, 40, 50, 60
- Adult age curve
- 2,026 counties on the federal default, 29 state-filed
- Under-21 age curve
- 1,841 counties on the federal default, 214 state-filed
Source: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Individual Market Medical Landscape public use file. Calculations and interpretation by CostAnswer; not endorsed by CMS. A state running its own Marketplace files premiums separately and is absent from this file rather than having no plans, which is a difference the pages using it have to state.
- These are 2026 plan year premiums as filed with CMS, before any premium tax credit. They are not a quote and do not confirm a plan is available to you.
- The landscape file covers the 30 states using HealthCare.gov. 21 states and DC run their own exchanges and publish separately, so they carry no county rows here.
- The benchmark is the second-lowest-cost Silver premium in the county, ranked separately at each published age. An enrollee’s actual benchmark depends on who is enrolling and can differ.
- Premiums are per person and are added across a household, counting at most the three oldest children under 21, as the federal rating rules require.
- Cost-sharing-reduction variants show the deductible and out-of-pocket maximum spread across a county’s Silver plans. They are granted by income, not chosen, and the premium is unchanged.
- Ages between the published ones are scaled from age 21 only where a county’s own filings confirm the federal curve over that part of the range. Adults and under-21s are recorded separately, because a county can follow it for one and not the other.
- Deductible and out-of-pocket figures are the individual medical amounts. Drug deductibles, family amounts, copays, and provider networks are outside this snapshot.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- cms-marketplace-2026-v1
- Adapter
- cms-marketplace-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- Packing
- 92 integer columns per county
- Resolved every column by header name from the Individual_Market_Medical sheet; a renamed column stops the ingest.
- Read 97,082 plan rows across 2055 counties, rejecting duplicate plan and county pairs.
- Confirmed no county spans more than one rating area, so a per-county premium is unambiguous.
- Kept 2055 counties publishing at least two Silver plans, the minimum a second-lowest-cost benchmark requires; 0 were left out rather than given a substitute benchmark.
- Confirmed 2026 counties reproduce the federal default age curve within 0.5% at every published adult age; 29 file their own and are flagged for published-age quoting only.
- Checked the under-21 range separately: 1841 counties also reproduce the curve at the child and age-18 premiums, and 214 do not, including counties whose adult premiums match it exactly.
- Verified the benchmark never falls below the lowest Silver premium and that no cost-sharing variant raises the out-of-pocket maximum above standard Silver.
- Packed every figure as integer cents and proved the packing lossless by unpacking each county back to its source values.
- Stored premiums in USD per month exactly as filed; no inflation, rating, or eligibility adjustment is applied.
Current copy
2026 ACA premium tax credit rules
- Coverage year
- 2026
- Poverty guidelines
- 2025 HHS, including separate Alaska and Hawaii figures
- Income range
- 100%–400% of the guideline
- Employer affordability
- 9.96% of household income
- Excess-credit repayment cap
- None for 2026
- Verified
- 2026-09-05
The IRS contribution table and HHS poverty guidelines are a hashed official-rules snapshot, not a fetched series. The schema proves the table is shaped like the IRS one; the hash is what fails the build on a single wrong digit.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- aca-subsidy-2026-irs-rp2025-25-hhs2025-verified2026-09-05
- Source status
- official-rules
IRS Revenue Procedure 2025-25, section 3 ↗HHS 2025 poverty guidelines, Federal Register 90 FR 5917 ↗IRS Premium Tax Credit questions and answers ↗IRS Premium Tax Credit overview ↗
Current copy
2026 Medicare premiums and IRMAA
- Coverage year
- 2026
- IRMAA income year
- 2024 MAGI
- Part B standard premium
- $202.90 a month
- Part B deductible
- $283 a year
- Part A deductible
- $1736 per benefit period
- Verified
- 2026-09-05
Figures are transcribed from the CMS fact sheet. Most IRMAA rungs are “more than”; the top rung is “greater than or equal to”. Married filing separately skips the middle rungs. Part D IRMAA is owed only with Part D or Medicare Advantage drug coverage.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- medicare-2026-cms-2025-11-verified2026-09-05
- Source status
- official-rules
CMS · 2026 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles ↗CMS · Medicare Deductible, Coinsurance & Premium Rates: CY 2026 Update ↗SSA · POMS HI 01101.020, IRMAA sliding scale tables ↗SSA · Request to lower an Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount ↗
Current copy
VA funding fee rate charts
- Effective
- 2023-04-07
- Verified
- 2026-09-08
- Purchase first use, under 5% down
- 2.15%
- IRRRL
- 0.5%
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA funding fee rate charts, effective April 7, 2023, confirmed still the published charts on 8 September 2026.
Current copy
IRS Uniform Lifetime Table (RMD)
- Distribution year
- 2026
- Table last revised
- 2022
- Age 75 factor
- 24.6
- Verified
- 2026-09-08
IRS Publication 590-B, Appendix B, Table III (Uniform Lifetime), used for 2026 required minimum distributions. The table itself was last revised for 2022. Required beginning ages are SECURE 2.0, not the table.
Current copy
NAIC homeowners, renters and auto insurance averages
- Observation period
- 2023 insurance experience
- Source line
- NAIC · 2023
- Status
- Latest official release
- Age of this period
- 3 years old
- Last checked
- 2026-09-05
- Provider schedule
- Homeowners and Auto Insurance Database reports, roughly annual and two to three years behind the data year. Next release expected 2027-09-05.
- Source status
- published
- Cadence
- yearly / manual
- Reports
- July 2026 homeowners report · February 13, 2026 auto database report
- Geographies
- 51 states/DC rows plus a countrywide row
- Homeowners, countrywide
- $1,737 a year, HO-3 average premium
- Renters, countrywide
- $173 a year, HO-4 average premium
- Auto, countrywide
- $1,281.92 average expenditure per liability-insured car-year
Source: National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Calculations and interpretation by CostAnswer; not endorsed by NAIC. The publication year is not the price year: these are 2023 averages across different properties, vehicles, limits, deductibles and policyholders, so they are a budgeting benchmark rather than a quote. Average expenditure counts vehicles that carry only some of the three coverages, so it is not a standardized full-coverage price.
- These are observed 2023 annual averages, not current prices or personalized insurance quotes. No inflation or individual risk multiplier is applied.
- Homeowners HO-3 and renters HO-4 figures average different limits, deductibles, properties and policyholders. They are not standardized coverage quotes.
- Auto average expenditure divides total liability, collision and comprehensive written premium by liability-insured car-years; some vehicles do not carry all three coverages.
- Combined auto premium adds three separately averaged coverage premiums. It is not a guaranteed full-coverage quote or a minimum-liability quote.
- State averages are not like-for-like comparisons. The source does not publish a personalized prediction interval.
Technical validation
- Snapshot
- naic-insurance-2023-v1
- Adapter
- naic-insurance-v1.0.0
- Schema
- 1.0.0
- Validated source schema and USD/year units.
- Every source table includes all 50 states, DC and Countrywide exactly once.
- HO-3 and HO-4 published averages reconcile to written premium divided by house-years, allowing reported rounding.
- Auto component means reconcile to combined means within two cents.
- Auto previous-year changes pass an 80% review threshold.
- Source PDF hashes, source table/page references and exact date precision retained.
- No credentials or provider secrets are stored.
Job Cost Engine
BLS ECEC construction labor loading
- Observation period
- 2026-03
- Snapshot
- bls-ecec-2026-03-v1
- Cadence
- Not on the DATASET_IDS freshness SLA. Refreshed with the Job Cost ingest.
National construction total compensation divided by wages and salaries. Used as a modelled burden on OEWS hourly wages, not as this city’s contractor loaded wage.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, private industry, construction, March 2026.
Job Cost Engine
BLS Producer Price Index (material escalation)
- Observation period
- 2026-07
- Snapshot
- bls-ppi-2026-07-v1
- Cadence
- Not on the DATASET_IDS freshness SLA. Refreshed with the Job Cost ingest.
Commodity indexes used to move a dated national material baseline forward. Missing series freeze at 1.0 and are labelled.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Producer Price Index commodity series.
Job Cost Engine
FEMA Schedule of Equipment Rates
- Observation period
- 2025
- Snapshot
- fema-equipment-2025-v1
- Cadence
- Not on the DATASET_IDS freshness SLA. Refreshed with the Job Cost ingest.
A public cost proxy for ownership and operating cost. Not a contractor market rental quote. Operator labor is not in the rate.
FEMA Schedule of Equipment Rates (2025). Cost proxy for ownership and operating cost; labor of the operator is not included.
Job Cost Engine
Census Economic Census, construction cost structure
- Observation period
- 2022
- Snapshot
- census-ec2022-construction-v1
- Cadence
- Not on the DATASET_IDS freshness SLA. Refreshed with the Job Cost ingest.
What each trade reported taking in and spending across a census year, which fixes overhead and profit as observed shares of price instead of rates we picked. A job whose trade the census does not describe keeps the modelled rate and says so.
U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census, Construction sector (EC2223BASIC), national industry totals.
Job Cost Engine
CostAnswer material basket
- Observation period
- 2026-09
- Snapshot
- material-basket-sourced-v5
- Cadence
- Not on the DATASET_IDS freshness SLA. Refreshed with the Job Cost ingest.
Sourced national baselines for published recipe components (EIA CAC+furnace, ASHP, and gas/electric water-heater retail; NREL REMDB panel and envelope intercepts; NRMCA ready-mix; public paint and lumber procurement; manufacturer bath fixtures). An unpriced critical line still blocks a complete CostAnswer estimated range. No guessed retail prices.
Sourced national baselines: EIA Appendix A (CAC+furnace, ASHP blower-coil, gas and electric storage WH midpoints); NREL REMDB 200A panel and envelope intercepts (vinyl window, prehung doors, vinyl/wood siding, drywall board); NRMCA ready-mix; EPC interior latex; Westchester County lumber award deck/fence BOMs; Plano ISD ceramic tile materials-only; Kohler manufacturer current prices; Home Depot stock kitchen cabinets and sink retail intercepts.