Between the third and fourth quarters of 2014 the general level of misery experienced by people in the United States decreased. This can be attributed to the general improvement in both housing prices and the unemployment rate. The level of economic misery experienced by Kansans is lower than in the United States as a whole, and decreased by more than the United States in the fourth quarter.
The Misery Index, as calculated by the Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR), includes the following components:
- The Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
- The House Price Index (HPI) from the Federal Housing Finance Agency
- Unemployment Rates (UR) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics