This paper discusses the three hypothetical market baskets of goods and services for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes annual cost estimates. This program is referred to as the standard budgets or family budget program. The family budget program provides: 1) estimates of budget levels originally constructed to represent standards of living; 2) interarea indexes of "living costs" based upon these budget estimates; and 3) adjustment factors to convert the budgets for other family sizes and types. Attention is given to the limitations of the family budgets as measures of income adequacy and to their use as indexes of interarea cost-of-living differences. Briefly, the general limitations of the budgets program with respect to defining poverty are: 1) as measures of income adequacy, 2) as measures of interarea cost of living differences, and 3) as adjustment of factors for various sizes and types of families. The paper also discusses the manner of living represented by the market baskets program, price measurement problems, geographic cost of living comparisons, and equivalence scales. In addition, it includes a short section which discusses areas for future research in this program. (Author/AM)