Every fact, source-checked
Our sources
Last updated October 7, 2026
Every fact we print is traced to a named source, then independently re-checked by a second reviewer before it reaches a poster. When the historical record is too thin to be sure, we leave the item off rather than guess. The exact source for each fact on your poster is listed in the maker under “Sources for this year.”
| Fact | Source |
|---|---|
| Gas prices | U.S. Energy Information Administration retail gasoline averages (earlier years: U.S. Department of Energy historical fact sheet) |
| Bread | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics average price data and Historical Statistics of the United States |
| Postage | U.S. Postal Service historical rates |
| Minimum wage | U.S. Department of Labor federal minimum wage history |
| Home prices | U.S. Census Bureau median sales price of new homes (from 1963) |
| Income | U.S. Census Bureau median household/family income |
| #1 songs | Billboard year-end charts (before 1958, Billboard's weekly charts; before 1940, not shown) |
| Movies | top_movie = highest US/Canada gross among films whose OFFICIAL release year (as listed by the Academy/Wikipedia/Box Office Mojo) is that year; documentaries/travelogues excluded; left null when sources are too thin. |
| Best Picture | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |
| Sports | Major League Baseball and the National Football League |
| Today's money | U.S. BLS CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items, not seasonally adjusted (FRED series CPIAUCNS) — average of 2025-08 to 2026-08 |
Spotted something?
Email [email protected]. If a fact is wrong, we'll fix it for everyone and refund your order.