The current US inflation rate is 3.7% — the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for September 2026, the latest print from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (3.4% the month before); core CPI, excluding food and energy, is 2.6%. Prices being set today, measured by Nowflation Realtime from live market prices where they exist, are rising 3.30% year over year as of October 23, 2026 (rents: Data Provided by Zillow Group). Ahead of the next report, the Nowflation CPI Gauge, which estimates what CPI would read with its inputs refreshed today, reads 3.48% as of October 23, 2026, with a seasonally adjusted three-month annualized pace of +3.58%; the gap to the official print is -0.22pp, mostly shelter (−0.41pp), with motor fuel pulling the other way (+0.22pp). The CPI for October 2026 is scheduled to be released on November 10, 2026 at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time.; Nowflation Forecast 3.84%.
This page is the reference answer — the official rate, its history and what is expected next; the dashboard is the live tool, CPI release dates the schedule, Why the Gap the reconciliation, and every category (rent, food, energy) has its own page.
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.7 | — | — | — | 3.4* |
| 2025 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.0 | — | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 |
| 2024 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 5.0 | 4.9 | 4.0 | 3.0 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.2 | 3.1 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 8.5 | 8.3 | 8.2 | 7.7 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 8.0 |
| 2021 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 5.4 | 6.2 | 6.8 | 7.0 | 4.7 |
| 2020 | 2.5 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.2 |
| 2019 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 1.8 |
| 2018 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 2.4 |
| 2017 | 2.5 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 |
| 2016 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 2.1 | 1.3 |
| 2015 | -0.1 | 0.0 | -0.1 | -0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| 2014 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.8 | 1.6 |
| 2013 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| 2012 | 2.9 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.7 | 2.1 |
| 2011 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.0 | 3.2 |
| 2010 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 |
| 2009 | 0.0 | 0.2 | -0.4 | -0.7 | -1.3 | -1.4 | -2.1 | -1.5 | -1.3 | -0.2 | 1.8 | 2.7 | -0.4 |
| 2008 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 5.0 | 5.6 | 5.4 | 4.9 | 3.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 3.8 |
| 2007 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.8 | 2.6 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.4 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 2.8 |
| 2006 | 4.0 | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.8 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 3.2 |
| 2005 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.1 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| 2004 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 2.3 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 2.7 |
| 2003 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 2.3 |
| 2002 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.6 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 2.4 | 1.6 |
| 2001 | 3.7 | 3.5 | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 1.9 | 1.6 | 2.8 |
| 2000 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 3.2 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
Source: BLS CPI-U all items, not seasonally adjusted (FRED CPIAUCNS), year-over-year change at one decimal as BLS quotes it. Annual: the change in the annual-average index (the average of the year's monthly index levels), the way the BLS computes a year's inflation, at one decimal. * 2026 is year to date: the average of its published months through September 2026 against the same months of 2025. The BLS published no index for October 2025, so 2025 averages the 11 months it did publish and the year-over-year cell for that month is blank.
The official US inflation rate is 3.7% — the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for September 2026, the latest print from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, versus 3.4% the month before. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, is 2.6%.
Nowflation Realtime reads 3.30% year over year as of October 23, 2026: live market prices where a credible source exists, the latest official reading held elsewhere, and a measurement of prices now, not a forecast. The Nowflation CPI Gauge, which estimates what official CPI would read with its inputs refreshed today, reads 3.48%, 0.22 percentage points below the official 3.7% print. Rents in Nowflation Realtime: Data Provided by Zillow Group.
The CPI for October 2026 is scheduled to be released on November 10, 2026 at 8:30 A.M. Eastern Time. Consensus is posted as it forms; the current Nowflation Forecast is 3.8% (3.84% unrounded) against a prior print of 3.7%.
The Nowflation CPI Gauge's seasonally adjusted three-month annualized pace is 3.58% and its one-month pace 0.94%, a single month compounded twelve times (the month's own change was 0.08% (Sep 23 to Oct 23): live prices −0.07pp net, with Motor Fuel the largest part (−0.10pp); the held components' step to the September CPI prints on Oct 14 +0.15pp). Both are measured on the Gauge with seasonally adjusted fuel, and the three-month pace runs above that series' own year-over-year change. When the pace runs below the year-over-year figure on the same basis, the twelve-month rate is set to drift down as older months roll out of the window; when it runs above, the reverse.
Both use the BLS basket weights; the Gauge replaces the survey with live market prices where a better daily source exists — 39.7% of the basket weight today, chiefly an all-tenant rent index measured from this month's new leases, pump prices and wholesale used-vehicle values — and holds every other component at its latest official subindex until the next print. It is CPI-comparable by construction and graded against every print.
The official rate comes from the BLS CPI-U all-items index (not seasonally adjusted, quoted at one decimal exactly as BLS quotes it, via FRED series CPIAUCNS). The daily readings are Nowflation Realtime, the headline measure of the prices being set today, and the Nowflation CPI Gauge, which estimates what official CPI would read if its inputs were refreshed today; every input to either is listed with its source in the open data directory. Nothing on this page is typed in — every figure is stamped from the data snapshot at publish time.