CPI Monitor streams CPI-U, Core CPI, CPI-W and the Chained CPI into one canvas — six decades deep. Stack trend lines, slice by spending category, and export any view to your report in a click.
Choose official CPI series, alternative official measures like PCE and median CPI, or market and household inflation expectations. Every source lands on one shared timeline.
Pick any window from one week to 1960, switch between year-over-year and index level, and filter the categories.
Drop any chart straight into a report as PNG, PDF or CSV — no screenshots, no re-plotting.
3 years · 36 monthly points · 4 of 4 sources
3 years · year-over-year % · current gap +1.18% · widest gap +1.40%
Both series share one timeline; the shaded band on the right axis is the gap between them, so divergences between BLS CPI-U and Core CPI (ex food & energy) stand out. The pulsing marker sits on the newest release.
Latest month · Sep '26 · 8 of 8 categories
Relative importance in the CPI-U basket
Month-over-month % by census region
| Region | Apr '26 | May '26 | Jun '26 | Jul '26 | Aug '26 | Sep '26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northeast | 1.00 | 0.79 | -0.22 | -0.04 | 0.15 | 0.47 |
| Midwest | 0.82 | 1.12 | -0.45 | -0.20 | 0.43 | 0.88 |
| South | 0.79 | 0.48 | -0.44 | 0.11 | 0.23 | 0.53 |
| West | 0.84 | 0.37 | -0.25 | -0.01 | 0.48 | 0.53 |
CPI-U index level with YoY and MoM change · last 13 months
| Month | Index | YoY | MoM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep '26 | 336.9 | 4.00% | +0.59% |
| Aug '26 | 335.0 | 3.69% | +0.32% |
| Jul '26 | 333.9 | 3.52% | -0.01% |
| Jun '26 | 334.0 | 3.88% | -0.35% |
| May '26 | 335.1 | 4.47% | +0.63% |
| Apr '26 | 333.0 | 4.13% | +0.85% |
| Mar '26 | 330.2 | 3.49% | +1.05% |
| Feb '26 | 326.8 | 2.87% | +0.47% |
| Jan '26 | 325.3 | 3.06% | +0.37% |
| Dec '25 | 324.1 | 2.71% | -0.02% |
| Nov '25 | 324.1 | 2.68% | -0.21% |
| Sep '25 | 324.8 | 3.01% | +0.25% |
| Aug '25 | 324.0 | 2.92% | +0.29% |
4 of 4 plotted · use the Sources dropdown to add a trend line
| Source | Type | Published by | Index | YoY | Δ 12mo | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BLS CPI-U | Official | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 336.9 | 4.00% | +1.09% | Plotted |
| Core CPI (ex food & energy) | Official | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 339.3 | 2.82% | -0.29% | Plotted |
| BLS CPI-W | Wage earners | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 330.7 | 4.21% | +1.40% | Plotted |
| Chained C-CPI-U | Chained | U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | 186.8 | 3.85% | +0.99% | Plotted |
CPI Monitor keeps every source aligned, live, and export-ready so your reports take minutes, not a weekend.
The Consumer Price Index measures the average change over time in the prices urban households pay for a fixed basket of goods and services — housing, food, energy, transportation, medical care and more. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes it as an index level, and the inflation rate you hear quoted is the percentage change in that index over the previous twelve months.
CPI-U is the headline index for all urban consumers. Core CPI strips out food and energy to show the underlying trend. CPI-W covers urban wage earners and clerical workers and is used for Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. Chained C-CPI-U allows for households substituting between goods as prices move. Every chart above lets you plot these side by side on one timeline.
The BLS publishes CPI once a month, usually in the middle of the month at 8:30 a.m. Eastern, covering the previous month. CPI Monitor re-checks the published series automatically, so the charts, index levels and year-over-year rates on this page update on their own once a new release lands.