Both the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Retail Price Index (RPI) are ways of measuring inflation which is the average change in price of a basket of goods. The RPI, however, includes the costs of housing such as mortgage mortgage repayments, rent and council tax, which take up a large proportion of someone’s income. The CPI on the other hand does not include these goods and as a result is generally around 1% lower than the RPI. Both have their own merits but CPI is generally considered to be more accurate and is used internationally so it is more useful for comparisons.