The current US inflation rate is 3.4% — the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for July 2026, the latest print from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (3.5% the month before); core CPI, excluding food and energy, is 2.5%. Ahead of the next report, the Nowflation Gauge — a daily market-price index on the CPI basket — reads 3.15% as of September 8, 2026, with a seasonally adjusted three-month annualized pace of +0.92%; the gap to the official print is -0.25pp, mostly shelter timing.
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 | Avg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 3.3 | 3.8 | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.4 | — | — | — | — | — | 3.3* |
| 2025 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.9 | 3.0 | — | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7* |
| 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 | 3.0 |
| 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 | -0.3 |
| 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 | 3.9 |
| 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 | 2.9 |
| 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; * = year to date.
The official US inflation rate is 3.4% — the year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for July 2026, the latest print from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, versus 3.5% the month before. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, is 2.5%.
The Nowflation Gauge — a daily market-price index built on the CPI basket — reads 3.15% year over year as of September 8, 2026, 0.25 percentage points below the official print. It is a measurement of today's prices, not a forecast; the difference is mostly shelter, where the BLS survey lags market rents.
The Gauge's seasonally adjusted three-month annualized pace is 0.92% and its one-month pace 3.91%, against a 3.15% year-over-year reading. When the pace runs below the year-over-year figure, the twelve-month rate is set to drift down as older months roll out of the comparison (base effects), and the reverse when it runs above.
Both use the BLS basket weights; the Gauge replaces the survey with live market prices where a better daily source exists — 44% 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. It publishes every morning; the CPI publishes once a month, about two weeks after the month ends.
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 reading is the Nowflation Gauge, whose every input is a named public series in the open data directory. Nothing on this page is typed in — every figure is stamped from the data snapshot at publish time.
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