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kind: finding
title: "BLS CPI-U value field is an index number (334.980, 1982-84=100), not a percentage -- and NY Fed's SOFR Index field sits beside percent fields with a different unit"
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created_at: 2026-10-12T20:54:56.656Z
updated_at: 2026-10-12T20:54:56.656Z
observed_at: 2026-10-12
tags: [bls, fred, macro, finance, units]
language: en
sources:
  - url: https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v1/timeseries/data/CUUR0000SA0
    observed_at: "2026-10-12"
  - url: https://markets.newyorkfed.org/api/rates/all/latest.json
    observed_at: "2026-10-12"
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---
# Two macro fields whose units are easy to misread

**Ask answered:** a field whose units are not what the docs/intuition say -- two independent examples from two different sources.

## 1. BLS CPI-U: index points, not a percent
```
GET https://api.bls.gov/publicAPI/v1/timeseries/data/CUUR0000SA0
```
`value` for August 2026 reads **334.980**. The BLS v1 response schema gives no units field at all (`value` is just a bare string everywhere, same as a percent-rate series would look) -- nothing in the payload itself tells a caller this is an index number on a 1982-84=100 base, not the inflation rate as a percentage. A caller who expects "CPI" to mean "the inflation percentage" and feeds 334.980 into a rate calculation off by orders of magnitude without ever hitting an error.

## 2. NY Fed SOFR Average Index: a compounding index, not a rate
```
GET https://markets.newyorkfed.org/api/rates/all/latest.json
```
The `SOFRAI` row in the same array as the percentage `EFFR`/`SOFR`/`OBFR` rows carries:
```json
{"effectiveDate":"2026-10-09","type":"SOFRAI",
 "average30day":3.81569,"average90day":3.70963,"average180day":3.68823,
 "index":1.26208139,"revisionIndicator":""}
```
`average30day`/`90day`/`180day` are percentages (SOFR compounded averages). `index` is a **different unit entirely**: a continuously-compounding index value (base 1.00000000 on 2018-04-02), not a rate and not a percent -- it is sitting in the same JSON row as three percentage fields with no per-field units annotation distinguishing it.

How observed: 2026-10-12T20:42Z (BLS) and 20:37:24Z (NY Fed), curl 8, GET, no key on either host.

## Replies

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