U.S. inflation remained elevated in April, with the annual rate climbing to its highest level in nearly three years as energy and food prices kept pressure on household budgets. The Labor Department report, released Tuesday, May 12, also showed underlying inflation picked up, partly reflecting a one-time adjustment to rent measures.
The headline monthly inflation figure showed U.S. consumer prices rose 0.6% in April, matching consensus estimates, after a 0.9% increase in March, as measured by the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), a key inflation gauge, measures what American consumers pay for a wide range of everyday goods and services, from clothing to cars.
Food prices rose 0.5% in April after being unchanged in March. Grocery store prices increased 0.7% for the month, following a 0.2% decrease, while restaurant prices rose 0.2% for a second straight month.
Over the past year, overall food prices increased 3.2%, up from 2.7% previously. Grocery prices rose 2.9%, compared to 1.9% before, while dining-out costs climbed 3.6%, down from 3.8%.
In other sectors, gasoline prices rose 5.4% in April after surging 21.2% in March. Year over year, they jumped 28.4% after having increased 18.9%.
The broader energy index, which includes gasoline, electricity, and fuel oil, advanced 3.8% in April following a 10.9% increase in March.
"The index for energy rose 3.8 percent in April, accounting for over forty percent of the monthly all items increase," the report noted.
From a year earlier, it was up 17.9%, compared with a previous 12.5% gain.
Excluding the volatile food and energy components, the rate of core consumer prices rose 0.4% in April — the largest monthly gain since January 2025 — after increasing 0.2% in March. The advance partly reflected a one-time adjustment to rent measures tied to data collection gaps during last year’s federal government shutdown.
Shelter costs rose 0.6% in April, doubling March’s 0.3% increase. From a year earlier, shelter prices were up 3.3%, after holding at 3.0% for three straight months.
The shelter component of the CPI includes prices for items such as apartment rents, owners’ equivalent rent – a measure of what homeowners would pay to rent or earn from renting their property – lodging away from home, like hotels and motels, and housing at schools.
In other key pricing categories:
- Clothing prices rose 0.6% in April after a 1.0% gain in March and were 4.2% higher than a year earlier.
- New vehicle prices declined 0.2% for the month after edging up 0.1% in March, leaving them 0.2% higher year over year.
- Used car and truck prices were unchanged in April after two straight 0.4% declines and were 2.7% lower than a year earlier.
- Airline fares rose 2.8% in April after increasing 2.7% in March and were 20.7% higher year over year.
For the headline annual rate, inflation rose 3.8% over the 12 months ending in April, the highest since May 2023 and one-tenth of a percentage point above expectations, after increasing 3.3% in March.
Core inflation rose 2.8% over the year through April, up from 2.6% in March.
This core, "all items less food and energy" index, is one of the benchmark inflation rates monitored by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to help guide the central bank’s interest-rate decisions.
The following table of key inflation figures is for the last seven months through April, as published by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (www.bls.gov/cpi) on May 12, 2026. To compile the data each month, the BLS monitors the prices of about 80,000 consumer goods and services from around the nation. All monthly and annual pricing changes are in percentages.
October 2025 to April 2026 Consumer Prices – Gains & Losses in Percent
(Seasonally Adjusted from Prior Month and Unadjusted 12-Month)
| Oct 2025* | Nov 2025* | Dec 2025 | Jan 2026 | Feb 2026 | March 2026 | April 2026 | 12 Month | |
| All items | – | – | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 3.8 |
| Food | – | – | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 3.2 |
| Food at home | – | – | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.4 | -0.2 | 0.7 | 2.9 |
| Food away from home | – | – | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 3.6 |
| Energy | – | – | 0.3 | -1.5 | 0.6 | 10.9 | 3.8 | 17.9 |
| Energy commodities | – | – | -0.3 | -3.3 | 1.1 | 21.3 | 5.6 | 29.2 |
| Gasoline (all types) | -1.3 | 2.7 | -0.3 | -3.2 | 0.8 | 21.2 | 5.4 | 28.4 |
| Fuel oil | – | – | -0.8 | -5.7 | 11.1 | 30.7 | 5.8 | 54.3 |
| Energy services | – | – | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 5.4 |
| Electricity | – | – | 0.2 | -0.1 | -0.7 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 6.1 |
| Utility (piped) gas service | – | – | 3.7 | 1.0 | 3.1 | -0.9 | -0.1 | 3.0 |
| All items less food, energy | – | – | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2.8 |
| Commodities less food, energy | – | – | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.1 |
| New vehicles | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.1 | -0.2 | 0.2 |
| Used cars and trucks | 0.7 | 0.1 | -0.9 | -1.8 | -0.4 | -0.4 | 0.0 | -2.7 |
| Apparel | – | – | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 4.2 |
| Medical care | – | – | 0.3 | -0.1 | 0.0 | -1.0 | -0.4 | -0.5 |
| Services less energy | – | – | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 3.3 |
| Shelter | – | – | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 3.3 |
| Transportation | – | – | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 4.3 |
| Medical care | – | – | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.2 |
*In 2025, pricing information for October and November was limited because a lapse in appropriations halted data collection, leaving typical month-over-month changes unavailable.
The BLS releases inflation data around the middle of the month, covering consumer prices surveyed up to the previous month. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for May and the latest annual period will be made public on June 10, 2026.
The CPI data is also used to calculate inflation rates and power this site’s U.S. Inflation Calculator, which displays the cumulative inflation and the change in the buying power of the U.S. dollar over time.
