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Money questions, answered with data

Long reads on what people search for most about markets and the economy. Every figure is recalculated from the source data each time it updates — nothing is typed in by hand.

Article · StocksAverage stock market return9.4%a year since 1871, with dividendsTwo kinds of average, every year since 1872 as a brick, the best and worst decades, and how the range narrows over 1 to 30 years of holding.Read the article → Article · EconomyWhat is a recession34US recessions since 1857Who decides, every recession since 1857 decade by decade, how long recessions and expansions last, and what happened to jobs and stocks around each one since 1948.Read the article → Article · StocksStock market crashes13falls of 20% or more since 1871Every crash of the S&P 500 since 1871: how deep it went, the shape of the fall, and how many years the way back to the record took, with and without dividends.Read the article → Article · Rates and debtFed interest rate history3.88%the federal funds rate, Nov 5, 2026Every move since 2008 as quarter-point bricks, 30 hiking and cutting cycles since 1954, the biggest hikes and the rate after inflation month by month.Read the article → Article · Rates and debtInverted yield curve+0.67points: the 10-year minus the 3-month yieldToday's curve against one and two years ago, every inversion since 1954, how long until the recession that followed — and the times none did.Read the article → Article · MoneyCompound interest calculator$848Kfrom $1,000 put into US stocks in 1960A calculator with monthly additions, the rule of 72 as a picture, and what $1,000 in stocks, bonds, gold and cash really compounded to since 1960.Read the article → Article · PricesThe value of a dollar$34.26today for $1 of 1913A dollar bill for every decade, drawn at the size of its buying power today; inflation in every year since 1872; the longest runs of rising and falling prices.Read the article → Article · PricesCost of living$2.27a dozen eggs, Sep 202618 everyday prices since 1980 in dollars and in minutes of work, the price of eggs month by month, gasoline and pay.Read the article → Article · Jobs and incomeUS unemployment rate4.1%in October 2026Every month since 1948 as a heat calendar, the fast rise and slow fall in each recession, U-3 against U-6, and who is hit hardest.Read the article → Article · Rates and debtUS national debt$40.56Tthe national debt, Nov 5, 2026How long every trillion took — 192 years for the first, 154 days for the latest — the debt per person since 1790, who holds it and the US among 191 countries.Read the article → Article · Jobs and incomeMinimum wage$7.25an hour, the federal minimum since 2009Every raise since 1938 against its value in today's dollars, the states that pay more on a map, and what a full-time year at the minimum pays.Read the article → Article · Jobs and incomeMedian household income$87,460a year, the median US household in 2025Median against average, the income ladder since 1967 — what puts a household in the top 20% or the top 5% — every state on a map and income by age.Read the article → Article · HousingUS house prices and affordability$393,300median new house, Q3 20264.8 years of income in 2025, against 3.2 in 1967. Every year as a stack of bricks, price and rate on one map, then vs now by decade.Read the article → Article · EconomyLargest economies in the world$128Tworld GDP in 2026, IMF projectionCountries by GDP as one picture, every economy's share since 1960, the US against China, dollars against purchasing power, and who is growing fastest.Read the article →