Nowflation’s shelter gauge reads 2.09% year over year as of September 8, 2026 (0.000pp on the day, 0.000pp on the week, −0.080pp on the month; level 147.743, January 2018 = 100). The official BLS CPI shelter was 3.2% for July 2026, released August 12, 2026 — a gap of −1.11pp today, −0.99pp like for like (the gauge’s July 2026 average against that print). The category carries 34.0% of the CPI basket; 100% 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. Why official rent lags market rents: rent inflation, explained.
| Component | Basket weight | YoY | Contribution to the category | Feed today |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shelter: Owned | 26.2% | 2.09% | +1.61pp | LIVE — rides the all-tenant rent index (rent weight + owners’-equivalent weight, as in the Gauge) |
| Shelter: Rent | 7.8% | 2.09% | +0.48pp | LIVE — zori_us + aptlist_rent_us (all_tenant model) |
Nowflation’s shelter gauge reads 2.09% year over year as of September 8, 2026, measured daily on the CPI basket weights (34.0% of the basket). The official BLS CPI shelter was 3.2% for July 2026, released August 12, 2026.
Today’s reading is −1.11pp versus the last print. About 100% 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 −0.99pp.
The August 2026 CPI prints on September 11, 2026 at 8:30 AM ET; this page steps to it the same morning.
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. In the Gauge both the rent weight and the owners’-equivalent weight ride the all-tenant rent index: new-lease rents (Zillow ZORI and Apartment List, chain-linked) averaged over the tenure of every lease in force — what the renting population pays this month, measured, not forecast. The official shelter subindex reprices each surveyed unit every six months, which is the lag the gap on this page reflects.
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. In the Gauge both the rent weight and the owners’-equivalent weight ride the all-tenant rent index: new-lease rents (Zillow ZORI and Apartment List, chain-linked) averaged over the tenure of every lease in force — what the renting population pays this month, measured, not forecast. The official shelter subindex reprices each surveyed unit every six months, which is the lag the gap on this page reflects. 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; weights from the BLS CPI-U relative-importance table (engine weights.json) (2026). Engine construction v1.4.
Related: housing · metros · mortgage · lead test · compare the forecasters · the Gauge, exposed · methodology. Embed: <iframe src="https://nowflation.com/embed?view=category&c=shelter"> (builder).
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