Build and check a monthly budget

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A and B on prices and two households. Card A. Compare chart "Four price indexes" (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI-U, U.S. city average, through FRED, retrieved Nov 14, 2026), columns Index (1982-84 = 100) | 2021 | 2024: Rent of primary residence | 349.135 | 420.060; Food at home | 258.892 | 306.536; Gasoline, all types | 264.017 | 295.730; All items | 270.970 | 313.689. Note: annual averages, not seasonally adjusted. An index rises when prices rise. Card B, "Two households" (made up). Household 1 spends 50% of its budget on rent, 20% on food at home, 5% on gasoline and 25% on everything else. Household 2 spends 20% on rent, 20% on food at home, 15% on gasoline and 45% on everything else. Treat "everything else" as rising with the all-items index. Each household buys the same goods in 2021 and 2024.

3. 1.

   Milo combines cards A and B. Which statement about the two households' price rises from 2021 to 2024 is best supported?

   • Both households' costs rose 15.8 percent, because that is what the overall index shows
   • Household 2's costs rose faster, because it spends three times as much on gasoline as Household 1
   • Rent-heavy budgets face the fastest price rises in any period, not just this one
   • Household 1's costs rose about 18.4 percent, Household 2's about 16.6; the index rose 15.8
4. 2.

   A columnist says a 15.8 percent raise from 2021 to 2024 kept every household whole. Noah tests it with cards A and B. What is the verdict?

   Use the picture in question 1.

   • Supported: Household 2 needed just about 16.6 percent, so both are covered
   • Supported: the overall price index measures what a household paid, so a 15.8 percent raise matches it
   • Not supported: rent caused the price rise, so renters needed raises
   • Not supported: Household 1 needed about 18.4 percent, so a 15.8 percent raise left it behind
5. 3.

   Ren wants to test whether the 2024 prices make Household 1 pay 18.4 percent more. Which missing evidence would matter most?

   Use the picture in question 1.

   • Whether the overall index counts rent, since the card uses it for the other 25 percent of spending
   • What the 1982–84 average prices were for rent, food and gasoline
   • How rent changed in 2022
   • Whether the household kept buying the same goods in the same amounts after prices changed

6. Use this

   Card A. Compare chart "Prices and the personal saving rate" (U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, through FRED, retrieved Nov 14, 2026), columns Year | CPI-U (1982–84 = 100) | Personal saving rate (% of disposable income): 2019 | 255.657 | 7.3; 2020 | 258.811 | 15.1; 2021 | 270.970 | 11.4; 2022 | 292.655 | 3.5; 2023 | 304.702 | 6.1; 2024 | 313.689 | 6.3. Note: the saving rate is the share of after-tax income that households did not spend or pay out as interest. Each value is the average of the twelve monthly values.

7. 4.

   A student claims households saved fewer dollars in 2022 than in 2021. Tala tests it against card A. What is the verdict?

   • Not shown: the saving rate fell from 11.4 to 3.5 percent, but card A has no dollar incomes
   • Shown: prices rose 8.0 percent in 2022, which made households save less
   • Not shown: the saving rate rose in 2022 as prices rose
   • Shown: a rate of 3.5 against 11.4 means smaller dollar savings
8. 5.

   Zee reads the saving rates and the CPI-U on card A. Which claim do they support best?

   • The saving rate was higher in 2020 than in 2024
   • The 8.0 percent price rise in 2022 pushed the saving rate down
   • Households saved less in each year after 2020 than they did in 2019, as the rates show for those years
   • The rate fell sharply in 2022, the year prices rose most, though the card cannot say prices caused it
9. 6.

   Ari wants to say why the rate jumped to 15.1 in 2020. Which missing evidence would matter most?

   • The rate for 2018, which would show what level was usual before 2019
   • How much of 2020 income came from one-time payments and how much spending fell
   • The CPI-U for 2025, which would show how prices moved after these years
   • Whether the rate is a share or a dollar amount, since the card leaves it unclear
10. 7.

    Bo imagines a household that saved 11.4 percent of income in 2021 and 3.5 percent in 2022. Which statement is best supported?

    • It saved less because it spent more on items that rose in price
    • It saved $79 less in total dollars, since the rate fell by 7.9 points and income was $1,000 in both years
    • Per $1,000 of after-tax income it saved $114, then $35; total dollars saved also depend on income
    • It saved less in real terms but not in dollars, since prices rose

11. Use this

    Card A. Compare chart "What a $3 tax did in two markets" (made up for practice), columns Market | Price buyers paid before | Price buyers paid after | Price sellers kept before | Price sellers kept after | Units sold before | Units sold after: Good X | $5.00 | $7.00 | $5.00 | $4.00 | 60 | 40; Good Y | $5.00 | $5.50 | $5.00 | $2.50 | 60 | 45. Note: invented markets, made up for practice. In each market the town charged sellers $3 on each unit sold. Card B, "A rule of thumb" (in our words). The side of a market that can walk away from the trade more easily usually bears less of a tax. The side that cannot walk away usually bears more.

12. 8.

    Esme uses card A. In which market does the burden of the $3 tax fall more on sellers, and what does it suggest?

    • Good Y: units fell the least, so sellers must have escaped the tax
    • Good Y: sellers kept $2.50 less and buyers paid $0.50 more, so sellers likely walk away less easily
    • Good X: buyers paid $2 more than before, so sellers must have escaped the tax in that market, and the rule of thumb agrees
    • Good Y: sellers kept $2.50, so sellers paid $2.50 of the tax by choice, since they could have left the market
13. 9.

    Jun compares what the town collects in each market on card A. Which statement is best supported?

    • The town collects $180 on each good, since it sold 60 units of each good before the tax was charged
    • The town collects $120 on Good X and $135 on Good Y, since 45 units still sell in Y against 40 in X
    • The town collects $135 on Good X and $120 on Good Y, since sellers hold the larger burden in the Good X market
    • The town collects the same $120 on both, since the tax is $3 on each unit in each market
14. 10.

    A member says the town taxed sellers to protect buyers. Kira looks for the strongest objection from card A. Which is it?

    • In Good Y sellers kept $2.50 less, so sellers rather than buyers were protected
    • Buyers paid more in both goods, so taxing sellers cannot shield buyers from any of the tax
    • The town collects revenue in both markets, so the law helped the town
    • In Good X buyers still paid $2 more, so taxing sellers did not shield them