Uber LooksBack
Kostenlose historische Tools auf Basis offizieller, offentlich zuganglicher Regierungsdaten.
What is LooksBack?
LooksBack is a collection of free historical calculators and reference tools. Every tool is designed to answer a genuine question about the past using official, verifiable data from government and institutional sources.
We do not publish advertising. We do not sell data. We do not require registration for any tool except the Time Capsule, which needs an email address solely to deliver the future letter.
If you find an error in any tool, email [email protected] with the tool name, the incorrect figure, and the correct source. We review all reports within 7 days.
Data sources by tool
US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), 1913 to 2024.
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/Gregorian calendar calculations. Generation definitions from Pew Research Center.
https://www.pewresearch.org/Billboard Hot 100 (charts), Box Office Mojo (films), US EIA (fuel prices), National Archives (presidents).
https://www.billboard.com/S&P 500: Robert Shiller / Multpl.com. Stocks: Yahoo Finance. Bitcoin: CoinGecko. Gold: World Gold Council. Housing: FHFA.
https://www.multpl.com/US Census Bureau Current Population Survey. Median household income 1950 to 2024.
https://www.census.gov/BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey. USDA Economic Research Service. US Census Bureau American Housing Survey.
https://www.bls.gov/cex/US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/historyManufacturer press releases, CNET and Ars Technica archives, Wikipedia cross-referenced with official announcements.
https://web.archive.org/US Census Bureau, BLS, NCES (tuition), Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances.
https://nces.ed.gov/Wikipedia, BBC History, contemporaneous newspaper archives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/Inflation adjustment formula
All LooksBack inflation adjustments use the standard CPI-U formula, identical to the BLS's own calculator:
CPI values used are annual averages (CPI-U, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted). The CPI-U covers approximately 93% of the US population. Pre-1947 data uses annual averages; post-1947 uses December values for consistency.