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The Real Rate Index45.30.00Palanor: Inflation Pulse50.7+0.09Palanor: Geopolitical Stress60.0-2.16Palanor: Liquidity57.9-0.79Palanor: Capital Tightness47.5+0.91Palanor: Industrial Pulse70.10.00Palanor: AI Margin Compression53.4+0.29Palanor: Consumer Confidence48.6+0.50Palanor: US Dollar Strength46.50.00Palanor: Labor Heat63.2-0.01Palanor: Recession Vocabulary28.1+0.54Palanor: Uncertainty Index53.4+1.24Palanor: US Jobs Health40.30.00Palanor: Energy Transition37.0-0.52Palanor: Reshoring Sentiment22.8+0.54Palanor: AI Substitution28.4-0.24The Social Fabric Index45.70.00Palanor: Geopolitical Anxiety19.4-0.45Palanor: Quit Pressure37.6+0.42The Mania Index88.00.00The Palanor Index57.1-0.51Cost Disease Spread33.20.00Palanor: US vs China49.5-0.17Rise of Socialism Index40.8-0.26The Bubble Memory79.90.00Palanor: Steward Confidence50.8+0.13The Long Watch90.30.00The Reshoring Index55.2+0.00The Capital Return Index81.0-0.75The Discourse Index72.4+1.83The Hesitation Index30.8-6.58Palanor AI Inference Cost Index71.2-0.03The AI Capex Race Index78.4+1.36The Boardroom Index82.5-0.00The Layoff Cycle Index32.8-2.51Capital Deployment Posture Index62.3+1.26The Consumer Health Index41.7-2.96Labor Hours Composite44.40.00The Dollar Erosion Index66.6+0.14Palanor: Risk Appetite36.2+0.83
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labor

Federal Minimum Wage in Today's Dollars (U.S.)

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7.25$ per hour (today's dollars)

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Methodology

## What this measures

The federal minimum hourly wage times the CPI-U in the newest month, divided by the CPI-U in each month: what each month's minimum would buy in today's prices. Monthly since January 1947. Because the base is always the newest month, the whole history is rewritten each month by a few cents.

## Why it matters

A minimum wage set in dollars loses buying power every year it is not raised. This shows how much each increase restored and how much inflation took back.

## How to read it

Read the peaks (each increase) and the slopes between them (inflation). Compare with us.minwage.productivity_path for what the 1968 wage would pay had it grown with productivity.

## What it does not say

The CPI-U is the standard deflator but not the only one; the PCE price index rises more slowly and would show a smaller decline. State and city minimums are higher in much of the country. October 2025 has no CPI-U (the 2025 lapse in appropriations), so that month is missing.

## Source

Palanor calculation from U.S. Department of Labor (FEDMINNFRWG) and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (CPIAUCSL) data, via FRED. Public domain.

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