August 2026 · AI Companion
One file. The same month as the PDF.
The only monthly district-level margin report. Now with an AI Companion.
Every TrueCOLA Margin Report ships with an AI Companion: the same numbers, in one file any AI can read. Drag it into the AI you use and make the report your own conversation.
Read online: Monthly report · Public data · Verify a file is a separate check, not a download.
- Month
- August 2026
- Format
- JSONL text file (.txt)
- Household types
- 7
- States
- 50
- Congressional districts
- 435
- Checks in August 2026
- 515 automated tests
What the file is
The AI Companion is one JSONL text file (.txt). It is the same month as the PDF of the TrueCOLA Margin Report. Every number in it comes from that month's published figures. Nothing new is calculated.
The Companion file is a free download on the Download Report page, next to the PDF for the same month. No email address, no account, and no sign-up.
Rows are labeled. An AI reads the file as data, not as a scraped page or a PDF.
The file you receive is named TrueCOLA Margin Report 2026-08 (AI Companion).txt.
What is in it
JSONL: line 1 is an about record. Every later line is one margin record. Order is national, then states, then districts. Coverage: 7 household types, 50 states, and 435 congressional districts.
- about
- What the file is, month, publisher, source, attribution, license, official report URL, methodology URL, verify URL, a note that the numbers are ours and what an AI says about them is the AI's, named sources and formulas, a national cost snapshot, notes on the Zillow rent lag, the two-person income basis, the Census survey vintage and regional price levels, and a description of every field.
- Publisher, license, instructions, notes, and sources appear only in the about record. Each margin record carries its report month and a citation.
- national
- 7 labeled records, one per household type.
- states
- 350 labeled records, one per state and household type.
- districts
- 3,045 labeled records, one per district and household type.
Keys in the about block, by name:
- record_type
- format
- title
- report_key
- report_month
- built_from
- published_on
- publisher
- attribution
- license
- official_report_url
- report_data_url
- district_url_pattern
- methodology_url
- verify_url
- statement
- instructions_for_ai
- how_to_read
- household_types
- rank_rule
- fields
- notes
- sources
The field list
The file is one JSON object per line: one about record, then one margin record per place and household type. Each national, state, and district margin record uses these fields, in this order.
- record_type
- report_key
- report_month
- geography
- code
- geo_name
- household
- household_label
- rank
- rank_of
- gross_monthly_income
- federal_income_tax
- payroll_tax
- state_income_tax
- net_monthly_income
- margin_renter
- margin_owner_blended
- margin_owner_mortgage
- margin_owner_paid_off
- citation
The about block in the file describes every field. This page lists the names only.
How the Margin Report is built is on the methodology page. The official report is the monthly report.
The instruction
Drag the file into the AI you use and ask it whatever you wish. The report becomes your conversation about the cost of living where you live.
How to get it
Download the file from the Download Report page. Every month is listed there with its PDF and its AI Companion. Click, save, and drag the file into the AI you use.
Verify a file after you download it.
Fingerprint
Every file we publish has a published fingerprint. Verify yours.
The numbers, and the AI
The numbers are ours and trace to published government data. What your AI says about them is your AI's. Check any figure against the file or the online report.
The only monthly district-level margin report. Now with an AI Companion.