500metrics

Consumer Price Index, CPI-U · Food and drink, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted

How have prices changed for each kind of food and drink?

The month ended : of the 24 lines, the change over a year was largest for Coffee, up 7.1%, and smallest for Eggs, down 20.6%.

Consumer price index for food and drink, food overall, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Consumer price index for food and drink, food overall, each month, one row for each measure
  • Food350.5247.7 to 350.5
  • Food at home321.1237.1 to 321.4
  • Food away from home398.8264.1 to 398.8
  • Farm-produced food330.6244.4 to 331.4

Consumer price index for food and drink, meat, poultry, fish and eggs, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Consumer price index for food and drink, meat, poultry, fish and eggs, each month, one row for each measure
  • Beef and veal506.5293.8 to 523.4
  • Pork269.9205.5 to 276.5
  • Other meats298.1220.7 to 308.8
  • Poultry314.3228.2 to 316.3
  • Fish and seafood381.2282.9 to 381.2
  • Eggs287.8191.3 to 467.5

Consumer price index for food and drink, dairy, fruit and vegetables, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Consumer price index for food and drink, dairy, fruit and vegetables, each month, one row for each measure
  • Dairy and related products269.6216.1 to 272.8
  • Fresh fruits435.4349.3 to 435.4
  • Fresh vegetables398.8304.6 to 418.4
  • Processed fruit and vegetables213.1153.6 to 213.1

Consumer price index for food and drink, grains, sweets and other foods, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Consumer price index for food and drink, grains, sweets and other foods, each month, one row for each measure
  • Cereals and cereal products292.8224.6 to 293.4
  • Bakery products414.5295.1 to 414.7
  • Sugar and sweets324.4213.7 to 326.6
  • Fats and oils311.8222.3 to 319.9
  • Other foods294.5223.3 to 295.4

Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.

Observed .

Consumer price index for food and drink, drinks, each month

September 2016 to September 2026Seasonally adjusted, as publishedNo picture is made of these rows; their numbers are in the table

Consumer price index for food and drink, drinks, each month, one row for each measure
  • Juices and nonalcoholic drinks186.3127.7 to 186.3
  • Coffee and tea materials166.0115.9 to 168.0
  • Coffee298.8191.3 to 304.2
  • Alcohol at home231.3198.8 to 232.2
  • Alcohol away from home458.8337.9 to 459.1

Each row is one line of the page over the last ten years, one month to a point, on a scale shared by the rows of the tab, with its newest value and its range printed beside it and a dashed line at zero. A gap is a month with no value. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.

Observed .

Right now

Over a year to September 2026, of the 24 lines on this page the change was largest for Coffee, up 7.1%, and smallest for Eggs, down 20.6%.

Of these lines, 19 rose, 5 fell and 0 did not change over the year (ours, from the published values).

See every line with its value and rank

By lineOver a year, ours

Consumer price index for food and drink, change over a year, by line

September 2025 to September 2026Percent, ours, from the published values

  • Food overall
  • Meat, poultry, fish and eggs
  • Dairy, fruit and vegetables
  • Grains, sweets and other foods
  • Drinks

Each bar is the change in one line over a year, the largest first, with its rank at the left and its newest value under the figure. A line with its own page links it from its name. A change below zero runs to the left of the zero line. The colour says which section of the page a line is in.

Observed .

Consumer price index for food and drink, change over a year in each month

Percent, ours, from the published values

Line
Food–+2.6+3.0+2.9+3.1+2.7+3.2+3.1+3.0+2.9+2.6+2.5
Food at home–+1.9+2.3+2.2+2.6+2.0+3.0+2.7+2.7+2.6+2.1+1.8
Food away from home–+3.7+4.1+4.0+3.9+3.8+3.6+3.5+3.4+3.4+3.4+3.5
Farm-produced food–+1.4+1.9+1.6+1.9+1.3+2.4+2.2+2.6+2.3+1.9+1.4
Beef and veal–+15.6+16.3+15.0+14.4+12.1+14.8+12.9+11.8+9.4+5.9+3.5
Pork–+0.8+0.8+1.4+2.4+0.5+2.3+2.6+2.4+0.5+0.6−0.7
Other meats–+5.1+5.1+7.5+3.5+2.9+3.4+1.5+2.9+2.1+1.5−1.6
Poultry–+1.3+1.4+1.6+2.2+1.5+0.5+1.3−0.1−0.5+0.5+1.1
Fish and seafood–+5.2+4.4+5.1+5.1+6.0+6.2+6.5+6.3+7.0+6.5+6.9
Eggs–−13.1−20.9−34.2−42.1−44.7−39.2−35.2−27.9−25.7−23.0−20.6
Dairy and related products–−1.6−0.9−0.3+0.1−1.6−0.6−1.0+0.4−0.5−0.3−0.7
Fresh fruits–−0.7+0.6−0.5−0.3+1.2+2.1+2.1+2.0+4.9+3.8+4.9
Fresh vegetables–+0.3−0.3+0.8+5.4+7.5+11.5+11.9+9.9+6.3+2.6+2.8
Processed fruit and vegetables–+1.2+1.6+3.6+3.3+2.5+4.1+3.0+3.2+2.4+3.2+2.7
Cereals and cereal products–+1.0−0.3+3.4+1.8+0.6+2.5+0.5+2.4+3.6+3.1+3.2
Bakery products–+2.4+2.3+2.9+3.0+2.7+2.7+2.6+2.5+2.4+2.4+1.7
Sugar and sweets–+6.8+6.9+5.7+9.0+8.1+6.3+7.1+6.9+7.4+6.1+5.5
Fats and oils–−1.7+0.80.0−0.9−1.0−0.2−3.4−2.0−1.5−0.3−0.8
Other foods–+0.8+2.2+1.8+2.9+2.4+2.2+1.8+2.1+2.1+2.1+1.4
Juices and nonalcoholic drinks–+1.0+2.3+2.3+3.2+2.1+2.9+3.7+0.9+2.9+3.5+3.3
Coffee and tea materials–+12.1+11.8+9.9+11.2+11.0+10.4+10.8+7.6+6.7+4.0+5.0
Coffee–+18.8+19.6+18.3+18.4+18.7+18.5+17.5+12.9+10.3+6.1+7.1
Alcohol at home–+1.2+1.0+0.6+0.3+0.3+0.4+0.8+0.7+0.6+0.2+0.2
Alcohol away from home–+2.6+3.5+3.6+3.1+3.2+3.6+3.5+3.4+3.6+3.0+2.6

Each chip is one month's change from the same month a year earlier. The mark in its middle is zero: a fill to the right of it is a rise and a fill to the left a fall. A longer, brighter fill is a larger change, in five steps up to 12.1 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign. A dash is a month with no figure.

Observed .

Understanding food and drink

Where it stands today

The largest change over a year was Coffee, up 7.1%, in September 2026.

What do the lines of this page measure?

These are the consumer price indexes for food and drink, from the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) publishes them each month, about two weeks after the month ends, seasonally adjusted. Every line is an index that BLS scales to 100 in a base period of its own, so lines are compared by their change, not by their level.

Read more

The lines are food at home and away from home, meats, poultry, fish and eggs, dairy, fruit and vegetables, grains, sweets and other foods, and drinks.

What 500metrics adds: the change over a year of every line, ranked across the page; the last ten years of every line as rows of small charts; and a table of the change over a year in each of the last twelve months. Every line has a page of its own with the history since its series begins.

The numbers behind the chart

What is the latest value of each line?24 lines, in the sections of the page
Consumer price index for food and drink: the newest month of each line, its change over a year (ours) and its rank by that change; equal changes share a rank
LineSectionMonthValueChange over a yearRank
FoodFood overall350.5+2.5%13
Food at homeFood overall321.1+1.8%14
Food away from homeFood overall398.8+3.5%6
Farm-produced foodFood overall330.6+1.4%16
Beef and vealMeat, poultry, fish and eggs506.5+3.5%6
PorkMeat, poultry, fish and eggs269.9−0.7%20
Other meatsMeat, poultry, fish and eggs298.1−1.6%23
PoultryMeat, poultry, fish and eggs314.3+1.1%18
Fish and seafoodMeat, poultry, fish and eggs381.2+6.9%2
EggsMeat, poultry, fish and eggs287.8−20.6%24
Dairy and related productsDairy, fruit and vegetables269.6−0.7%20
Fresh fruitsDairy, fruit and vegetables435.4+4.9%5
Fresh vegetablesDairy, fruit and vegetables398.8+2.8%10
Processed fruit and vegetablesDairy, fruit and vegetables213.1+2.7%11
Cereals and cereal productsGrains, sweets and other foods292.8+3.2%9
Bakery productsGrains, sweets and other foods414.5+1.7%15
Sugar and sweetsGrains, sweets and other foods324.4+5.5%3
Fats and oilsGrains, sweets and other foods311.8−0.8%22
Other foodsGrains, sweets and other foods294.5+1.4%16
Juices and nonalcoholic drinksDrinks186.3+3.3%8
Coffee and tea materialsDrinks166.0+5.0%4
CoffeeDrinks298.8+7.1%1
Alcohol at homeDrinks231.3+0.2%19
Alcohol away from homeDrinks458.8+2.6%12

The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.

What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite

What this number cannot tell you

  • An index measures the change of prices, not the prices themselves. The base period differs from line to line, so the level of one line cannot be set beside the level of another: only the changes can.
  • The lines overlap. BLS builds the items from one another, so a line can be a part of another line of this page or of another inflation page. The lines do not add up to a total.
  • The values are seasonally adjusted, and BLS revises the adjusted values of the last five years each February. The change over 12 months that BLS headlines is worked out from values that are not seasonally adjusted, and can differ from the change on this page.
  • BLS did not collect prices for October 2025 because of the lapse in appropriations. Where BLS publishes no value for that month, the charts show a gap.
  • The changes and the ranks are ours, worked out from the values BLS publishes; a change is in percent.

Observed . Checked .

How to cite this

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index, Food and drink, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How have prices changed for each kind of food and drink?", https://500metrics.com/food-inflation.

Can the data be downloaded?food-inflation.csv

Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 2,880 rows, to , 172,910 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Page updated