Current US Inflation Rate

What "the current inflation rate" actually means

When you hear that "inflation has been 3.9%," what they mean is the year over year change in the CPI-U, not the change from last month. Month-to-month changes have too much noise to be reliable (changes in gasoline prices or a seasonal variation can cause a large change in one month), so we use the twelve-month comparison as the benchmark, since this is how economists, the Federal Reserve, and financial media typically present their inflation numbers. As stated above, the CPI index level itself (333.952 for June 2026) is not a dollar figure or a percentage, but rather a ratio of two index values. Every inflation rate you will ever encounter is some form of ratio of two such index values.

This page displays the all-items CPI-U (series CUUR0000SA0), which is the broadest headline measure of inflation and the number most frequently referenced when someone talks about "the inflation rate." This page displays only the all-items CPI-U; it does not display core CPI (excludes food and energy) nor the Federal Reserve's preferred PCE price index (although those indices may behave differently than CPI in any given month); treat this figure as your standard reference point for any inflation news you read or hear.

What this actually costs you

An annualized rate of 3.9 percent means something that cost $100 one year ago currently costs approximately $103.88. Use the inflation calculator to check any other amount or year back to 1913, or for the complete year-by-year and month-by-month record, go to the historical US inflation rates page. If you got a raise recently, the real wage calculator checks whether it actually outpaced this number.