Economy › Inflation · United States
Inflation
For 2026-09, consumer prices were 3.7% higher than a year earlier. This is a 12-month comparison, not the change during one month. The separately reported seasonally adjusted monthly change was 0.6%. CPI-U tracks a national urban consumer basket; individual households experience different price changes.
Numbers tell a bigger story.
Reported snapshot · does not accrue with time
What makes this number move?
Reporting period: 2026-09
Changes when a new source observation is loaded.
Published 12-month CPI-U change from Table 1, checked against unadjusted index levels. Survey rates do not tick.
CPI-U is a national urban basket; individual households differ. Annual change uses unadjusted indexes, while monthly change is seasonally adjusted.
Reported snapshot · does not accrue with time
What makes this number move?
Reporting period: 2026-09
Changes when a new source observation is loaded.
Use the unadjusted all-items CPI-U index, not the seasonally adjusted monthly percentage.
CPI-U is a national urban basket; individual households differ. Annual change uses unadjusted indexes, while monthly change is seasonally adjusted.
Reported snapshot · does not accrue with time
What makes this number move?
Reporting period: 2026-09
Changes when a new source observation is loaded.
Published seasonally adjusted monthly CPI-U change.
CPI-U is a national urban basket; individual households differ. Annual change uses unadjusted indexes, while monthly change is seasonally adjusted.
CPI-U index over time
Published values in the current source vintage. The line joins observations; it does not show a historical WN forecast.
View accessible data table
| Period | Official value (1982–84 = 100) |
|---|---|
| 2025-09 | 324.800 |
| 2026-08 | 334.980 |
| 2026-09 | 336.940 |
EXPLORE THE SCALE
What changed in the reported observations?
CPI-U index
2025-09: 324.800 → 2026-09: 336.940.
Difference: 12.140 (3.7% relative to the first displayed observation). This compares the first and last observations in this board’s displayed series, not necessarily consecutive periods or the same seasonal window. Check the source vintage and units before interpreting the change.
READING THIS BOARD
Does lower inflation mean prices are falling?
Lower positive inflation means prices are rising more slowly. Falling prices require a negative change in the price index.
Make a fair comparison
Use the same index and time window. A monthly change and a year-over-year change are not interchangeable.
How this number works
Consumer prices · annual change
Published 12-month CPI-U change from Table 1, checked against unadjusted index levels. Survey rates do not tick.
CPI-U is a national urban basket; individual households differ. Annual change uses unadjusted indexes, while monthly change is seasonally adjusted.
CPI-U index
Use the unadjusted all-items CPI-U index, not the seasonally adjusted monthly percentage.
CPI-U is a national urban basket; individual households differ. Annual change uses unadjusted indexes, while monthly change is seasonally adjusted.
Consumer prices · monthly change
Published seasonally adjusted monthly CPI-U change.
CPI-U is a national urban basket; individual households differ. Annual change uses unadjusted indexes, while monthly change is seasonally adjusted.
Official source
Audit trail & all metric versions
Source response preserved in immutable content-addressed archive.
SHA-256: c939f32214366f1481010694bd4c4f2d588b1f1fb5c47a66855d3f1f4e86c291
Consumer prices · annual change
- Period
- 2026-09
- Source release date
- 2026-10-14
- Version
- Official source import · 2026-09
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-26T15:30:31.950Z
CPI-U index
- Period
- 2026-09
- Source release date
- 2026-10-14
- Version
- Official source import · 2026-09
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-26T15:30:31.950Z
Consumer prices · monthly change
- Period
- 2026-09
- Source release date
- 2026-10-14
- Version
- Official source import · 2026-09
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-26T15:30:31.950Z