>> If you're at $5,000/month, a 4.2% raise puts you at $5,210. If you're spending $600/month on gas (not unreasonable for someone that drives an SUV and lives in the suburbs instead of in the urban core), you still come out behind.

This is the problem with people treat CPI as some word from the heavens...it is not. CPI is a highly constructed figure which conveniently includes/excludes things and is really more a floor of what the inflation is. Anyone living in the real world knows experienced inflation is way higher.

> CPI is a highly constructed figure which conveniently includes/excludes things and is really more a floor

It’s an attempt at a central tendency in a complex economy with non-linear variability.

> Anyone living in the real world knows experienced inflation is way higher

Here is a map of wage changes across the U.S., 2024 to 2025 [1]. Lots of variance! If you’re on the West Coast, right now, you’re seeing above-CPI inflation. If you’re in the Northern Rockies, where I am, you’re seeing less.

[1] https://www.bls.gov/charts/county-employment-and-wages/perce...