Sheesh, what a clumsy representation. You have to dive into their methodology to understand what they’re trying to show.
The dollar figure in the legend represents (I think) the nominal increase in expected annual expenses for an average household in each state between January 2021 and November 2022. So if you are an average household and your household expenses in January 2021 were on pace to be $65,000 per year, then by November 2022 your expenses have increased such that you would expect them to be $65,000 + the number on the chart.
This doesn’t account for the fact that wages also increased over this time period. The SSA’s Average Wage Index shows a significant jump in 2021. So we can’t tell the net financial impact on households from this chart.
The methodology states that they deliberately chose their start date and methodology to get bigger results and align with the start of the Biden administration. The page heading looks like this was made by a Republican committee within the Senate. It’s not a stretch to think their methodology and presentation would be different if a Republican was in the White House.
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