The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced it will not publish the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October 2025, citing difficulties created by the recent federal government shutdown.
The shutdown prevented the collection of crucial survey information, and the agency said it "is unable to retroactively collect these data." As a result, there will be no all-items CPI or core CPI (excluding food and energy) for October — leaving a gap in official inflation statistics.
Where possible, the BLS may publish limited data from non-survey sources for select CPI sub-indexes alongside the November release, but full CPI data for October will not be available.
To compensate for the gap, BLS has rescheduled the release of the November 2025 CPI for December 18, 2025. While that report may include some October sub-indexes collected through alternate sources, it will not — per BLS — provide a one-month percent change for November for indexes that rely on missing October data.
The following statement was provided by the BLS:
"BLS could not collect October 2025 reference period survey data due to a lapse in appropriations. BLS is unable to retroactively collect these data. For a few indexes, BLS uses nonsurvey data sources instead of survey data to make the index calculations. BLS is able to retroactively acquire most of the nonsurvey data for October. Where possible, BLS will publish October 2025 values for these series with the release of November 2025 data. BLS is still evaluating which series will meet publication criteria for October, but BLS expects the number of publishable indexes to be small. BLS will not publish an all items or an all items less food and energy estimate for October 2025. BLS cannot provide specific guidance to data users for navigating the missing October observations.
BLS will publish the November 2025 CPI news release on December 18, 2025. This news release and database update will not include 1-month percent changes for November 2025 where the October 2025 data are missing.
With the November release, BLS will also finalize fourth quarter 2024 Chained CPI-U data series values and update 2025 first quarter through third quarter values. BLS has not yet determined a publication date for special research series, such as the CPI for new tenant rent and CPI for all tenant regressed rent."
