🔔
📍 Your Location

Know what everything costs — before you pay it.

Real government data — USDA, BLS, EIA, HUD, Census — tracking groceries, gas, medicine, rent, utilities, airfare, and more. By your state and city. Updated weekly.

📊 Monthly Budget Impact

Monthly grocery budget
$600
Projected next month$643
Estimated increase+$43
90-day impact+$129
Savings if you stock up-$38
+ Gas (est. monthly)
+ Utilities (est. monthly)
Total household est.
+7.2%
Average grocery price change
▲ YoY across tracked items
$2.95
Average gas price nationally
⛽ Regular unleaded · EIA data ▼ YoY
Items to stock up on now
⚠ Rising in next 4–8 wks
Items dropping — wait to buy
▼ Better price coming
$1,600
Median 1BR rent, national avg
🏠 Across all tracked metros

Grocery Prices

Retail prices from BLS Average Price Survey. Commodity signals from USDA NASS + FRED. Forecasts based on 4–8 week commodity-to-retail lag.

💡 Smart Insights
Personalized
BLS + USDA + FRED data
🌱 Seasonal Produce Buying Calendar

Best months to buy fresh produce — PEAK = cheapest & most flavorful · GOOD = available · OK = decent · HIGH = avoid

⚖️ Cost of Living Comparison
VS
🍳 Recipe Cost Calculator

Real ingredient prices adjusted to your location. See exactly what each meal costs you.

📦 Spending by Category
Estimated monthly spend based on typical household quantities

Gas Prices

50 states + major cities

Weekly gas price averages from EIA. Regular, midgrade, premium, and diesel by state and city.

💡 Best day to fill up: Monday or Tuesday — EIA data shows weekly lows hit early in the week as stations reset pricing before weekend demand spikes. Avoid Thursday–Saturday for the highest prices.

Medicine & Pharmacy

20 drugs · 5 pharmacies compared

Compare real prices across CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Costco & Amazon Pharmacy. Source: Medicare Part D NDC data, FDA drug pricing, verified pharmacy surveys.

48Drugs tracked
7Active shortages
$847Avg annual generic savings
11Prices rising this month
Pharmacies:
CVS
Walgreens
Walmart
Costco
Amazon Pharmacy
Green = best price
Drug / Brand NameCategory CVSWalgreens WalmartCostcoAmazon 30-Day TrendShortageGeneric Alt.

Housing & Rent

Major US metros

Fair Market Rents from HUD + market-rate data from Rentcast. Median rent by bedroom count. Actual prices vary by neighborhood.

Utilities

50 states

Electricity rates from EIA. Average monthly bills for electricity, water, gas, and internet by state.

Electronics & Appliances

60+ products

Typical retail prices for consumer electronics and appliances. Updated monthly. Tariff and supply chain impacts noted.

State Tax Rates

All 50 states

State sales tax, income tax brackets, and property tax rates. Source: Tax Foundation 2025. Does not include local/county taxes.

StateSales TaxTop Income TaxAvg Property Tax RateGas Tax (¢/gal)Tax Burden Rank

Airfare Intelligence

200+ airports · 22 airlines · AI predictions · 30-min refresh

Multiple departure options across 50+ airlines. AI-powered buy/wait signals. Fare alert emails via Resend. Amadeus API ready — simulation fallback active.

30:00
Airlines Found
Cheapest Fare
Average Fare
Price Trend
30-day direction
Best Time to Book
AI · ClaudeRoute Intelligence
Analyzing fares…
Airline Scorecard — Ranked by Price
Filter:
Airline Price Route Departs Stops Duration AI Signal 30-Day

Session 5: Multiple departures per airline, round-trip pricing, fare alert emails. Amadeus API ready — simulation fallback active. Not a booking engine.

Price Forecast

4–8 week grocery price forecasts powered by commodity futures transmission lag model (USDA ERS methodology). Commodity prices lead retail by 2–12 weeks — giving you time to act.

Food Price Pressure Index — Next 8 Weeks
DeflationaryNeutralInflationary
Items Rising
Items Falling
Stable
Avg 8wk Change
Sort by
How the Predictive Model Works

CartCast forecasts retail grocery prices 4–8 weeks ahead using commodity futures and farm price data, applying the USDA ERS price transmission lag methodology.

1Commodity futures & farm prices fetched daily from FRED and USDA NASS (wheat, cattle, hogs, dairy, coffee, corn)
2Each product is assigned a transmission elasticity (0–1.0) — how much a commodity price change flows through to retail shelves
3A lag period (2–12 weeks) is applied per category — eggs react in 2 weeks; bread takes 8 weeks after a wheat spike
4Forecast = Current Price × (1 + commodity_change × elasticity × lag_fraction)
5Confidence scored by commodity volatility, data recency, and lag length — shorter lags & stable commodities score higher
4–8 wk
Forecast horizon
USDA ERS
Methodology
7 APIs
Data sources
Daily
Data refresh

Sources: FRED (St. Louis Fed), USDA NASS, BLS Average Price Survey. Not financial advice. Research: USDA ERS Food Price Outlook.

What's missing?

Tell us what you want to track — we add the most-requested items every week.

Top requested additions

Inflation IQ

First of its kind

Financial portfolio theory applied to your grocery basket — your personal inflation rate, commodity concentration risk (HHI), price shock arrival calendar, and optimal swap engine.

Your inflation rate
vs 3.1% headline CPI
Basket risk (HHI)
calculating…
Extra spend / year
vs same basket last year
📊 Personal Inflation Rate — vs Official CPI
Your YoY personal rate
3.1%Headline CPI (BLS)
4.8%Food-at-home CPI
📅
extra per week
🗓️
extra per month
💸
extra per year
💼
raise to break even
Adjust weekly consumption:
🎯 Basket Risk Analysis
Herfindahl-Hirschman Index — the same measure the FTC uses for market concentration, applied to your grocery basket. Score 0–100.
calculating…
📅 Price Shock Arrival Calendar

Commodity price movements travel through supply chains before hitting your store shelf. Each item is placed in the specific week its price change is projected to arrive, based on USDA-measured transmission lags.

💱 Optimal Swap Engine

Mathematically derived substitutions that maintain nutritional equivalence while maximizing savings under current price trajectories.

Monthly Budget

All categories · Location-adjusted

Your complete monthly cost of living — assembled from every section of CartCast, adjusted for your location. Edit any amount to personalize. Linked categories auto-update from live data.

📊 Monthly Cost of Living — National Average
estimated monthly total
$4,077 National average (BLS CEX 2024)
vs national avg
Extra/mo from inflation vs last year
Potential monthly savings from app tips
Best store for your grocery basket
Monthly Spending by Category
Linked categories (🔗) auto-fill from CartCast's live data for your location. Edit any amount, or click Reset Live to restore auto-values.
Price Volatility
AI · ClaudePer-Airline Forecast
Generating prediction…
Updated

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