Services inflation today: 2.32% on the daily gauge vs 3.0% official (July 2026)

Nowflation’s services gauge reads 2.32% year over year as of September 8, 2026 (0.000pp on the day, −0.030pp on the week, −0.140pp on the month; level 135.77, January 2018 = 100). The official BLS CPI services less energy services was 3.0% for July 2026, released August 12, 2026 — a gap of −0.68pp today, −0.39pp like for like (the gauge’s July 2026 average against that print). The category carries 80.1% of the CPI basket; 51% of that weight is priced from live sources today. Next print: August 2026 CPI on September 11, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET. A measurement, not a forecast.

Drivers on September 8, 2026

ComponentBasket weightYoYContribution to the categoryFeed today
Shelter: Owned26.2%2.09%+0.68ppLIVE — rides the all-tenant rent index (rent weight + owners’-equivalent weight, as in the Gauge)
Transportation Services6.3%2.90%+0.23ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SAS4 (official subindex, held between prints)
Shelter: Rent7.8%2.09%+0.20ppLIVE — zori_us + aptlist_rent_us (all_tenant model)
Medical Care8.4%1.70%+0.18ppOFFICIAL — CPIMEDSL (official subindex, held between prints)
Recreation5.1%2.58%+0.17ppOFFICIAL — CPIRECSL (official subindex, held between prints)
Household Furnishings4.3%2.20%+0.12ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SAH3 (official subindex, held between prints)
Personal Care2.5%3.83%+0.12ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SAG1 (official subindex, held between prints)
Apparel2.4%3.87%+0.11ppOFFICIAL — CPIAPPSL (official subindex, held between prints)
New Vehicles3.8%2.08%+0.10ppLIVE — kbb_new_atp
Water, Sewer & Trash1.1%4.62%+0.07ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SEHG (official subindex, held between prints)
Lodging Away1.3%2.83%+0.04ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SEHB (official subindex, held between prints)
Education & Comm5.9%0.55%+0.04ppOFFICIAL — CPIEDUSL (official subindex, held between prints)
Tobacco0.4%6.71%+0.04ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SEGA (official subindex, held between prints)
Residual (core proxy)0.9%2.47%+0.03ppOFFICIAL — CPILFESL (official subindex, held between prints)
Alcohol0.8%2.10%+0.02ppOFFICIAL — CUSR0000SAF116 (official subindex, held between prints)
Used Vehicles2.8%0.39%+0.01ppLIVE — manheim_muvvi

Questions

What is services inflation right now?

Nowflation’s services gauge reads 2.32% year over year as of September 8, 2026, measured daily on the CPI basket weights (80.1% of the basket). The official BLS CPI services less energy services was 3.0% for July 2026, released August 12, 2026.

Why does it differ from the official services CPI?

Today’s reading is −0.68pp versus the last print. About 51% of the category weight is priced from live sources today; the rest holds the official subindex until the next release. Like for like — the gauge’s average over July 2026 against that print — the gap was −0.39pp.

When is the next services CPI number?

The August 2026 CPI prints on September 11, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET; this page steps to it the same morning.

How is the services gauge built?

Weight-normalised average of the member components’ daily index levels (Jan 2018 = 100), on the BLS relative-importance weights for the year — the same Laspeyres-style aggregation the headline Gauge uses; YoY is the level against the same calendar day a year earlier. An approximation of the BLS “services less energy services” aggregate: the Gauge’s components are not split into goods and services, so medical care, recreation, education & communication and everything else are counted whole (each carries some goods). Shelter is the live piece; the rest hold their official subindexes between prints.

Method

Weight-normalised average of the member components’ daily index levels (Jan 2018 = 100), on the BLS relative-importance weights for the year — the same Laspeyres-style aggregation the headline Gauge uses; YoY is the level against the same calendar day a year earlier. An approximation of the BLS “services less energy services” aggregate: the Gauge’s components are not split into goods and services, so medical care, recreation, education & communication and everything else are counted whole (each carries some goods). Shelter is the live piece; the rest hold their official subindexes between prints. The official subindex is quoted at the last print (NSA, one decimal). The daily reading is a measurement of today; the like-for-like comparison is the calendar-month average of the daily series for the print’s reference month (at_print_month_pct), which is what the gap-at-print figure uses. Components: shelter_rent, shelter_owned, medical, recreation, education_comm, other, used_vehicles, new_vehicles, apparel, transportation_services, lodging, household_furnishings, water_sewer_trash, alcohol, personal_care, tobacco; weights from the BLS CPI-U relative-importance table (engine weights.json) (2026). Engine construction v1.4.

Related: supercore · shelter · real wages · compare the forecasters · the Gauge, exposed · methodology. Embed: <iframe src="https://nowflation.com/embed?view=category&c=services"> (builder).

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