Editorial policy

This page explains where our numbers come from, how a chart gets made, and what happens when we get one wrong. It is written to be checked against.

Where the numbers come from

Every figure we publish starts in a public government table: the Bureau of Labor Statistics for prices and wages, the Social Security Administration for benefits, the Census Bureau for income and rent, FRED at the St. Louis Fed for historical series, and the EIA and USDA for energy and food. When a figure comes from anywhere else, a research group or an industry survey, we name that source just as plainly and hold it more loosely.

We prefer the primary table to the news story about the table. When a claim in circulation cannot be traced back to a primary source, we do not chart it.

How a chart gets made

• One measure per chart. If a chart compares years, every number on it comes from the same government series, measured the same way. Mixing measures makes a chart more dramatic and less true.
• The source is printed on the image, in the corner, every time. A chart that gets shared away from this page carries its receipt with it.
• One plain-English sentence sits under every title, saying what the chart shows.
• Exact figures stay exact, and rounded ones say so when the difference matters.
• Two data series at most. Past two, a chart stops being readable and starts being decoration.

The words we choose

When the data comes with careful language, we keep the careful language, even when a scarier phrase would travel further. Social Security’s trustees, for example, project what the program can pay under current law, not that it disappears. The honest phrase is “payable benefits,” so that is the phrase we use. If a plain word and a dramatic word both fit, we take the plain one.

Corrections

We correct in public, in place. The wrong figure is struck through where it appeared, the corrected figure goes beside it with a note and a date, and the post or page stays up so the record is visible. If you spot an error, the contact page says how to reach us. Good catches get thanked publicly.

What we do not publish

We do not give financial advice, and we do not predict. We stay out of politics. A chart of rent since 1990 does not need our opinion attached, and everybody pays the same rent regardless of how they vote. We won’t publish anything that pressures you to act fast, promises a return, or asks for money.