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Consumer Price Index, CPI-U · Housing, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted

How have prices changed for rent, utilities and household goods?

The month ended : of the 19 lines, the change over a year was largest for Fuel oil and other fuels, up 43.8%, and smallest for Furniture and bedding, down 2.4%.

Consumer price index for housing, shelter, 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 housing, shelter, each month, one row for each measure
  • Shelter431.9290.4 to 431.9
  • Rent of primary residence450.4299.0 to 450.4
  • Owners' equivalent rent445.3297.6 to 445.3
  • Lodging away from home194.2141.5 to 195.7

Consumer price index for housing, fuels and utilities, 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 housing, fuels and utilities, each month, one row for each measure
  • Fuels and utilities353.0232.0 to 353.0
  • Household energy296.6193.9 to 297.4
  • Energy services298.1198.4 to 300.4
  • Electricity306.2208.1 to 308.9
  • Utility (piped) gas service267.6165.9 to 279.1
  • Fuel oil and other fuels519.7215.5 to 519.7
  • Water, sewer and trash335.4223.1 to 335.4

Consumer price index for housing, furnishings and operations, 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 housing, furnishings and operations, each month, one row for each measure
  • Furnishings and operations156.0120.3 to 156.3
  • Furnishings and supplies108.589.4 to 109.8
  • Window and floor coverings60.155.3 to 63.9
  • Furniture and bedding131.7110.1 to 140.9
  • Appliances84.172.9 to 90.8
  • Other household equipment56.349.0 to 57.4
  • Tools, hardware and outdoor117.088.9 to 117.8
  • Housekeeping supplies243.2182.2 to 243.5

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 19 lines on this page the change was largest for Fuel oil and other fuels, up 43.8%, and smallest for Furniture and bedding, down 2.4%.

Of these lines, 16 rose, 3 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 housing, change over a year, by line

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

  • Shelter
  • Fuels and utilities
  • Furnishings and operations

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 housing, change over a year in each month

Percent, ours, from the published values

Line
Shelter–+3.0+3.2+3.0+3.0+3.0+3.3+3.4+3.3+3.2+3.0+3.2
Rent of primary residence–+3.0+2.9+2.8+2.7+2.6+2.8+2.9+2.8+2.9+2.8+2.8
Owners' equivalent rent–+3.4+3.4+3.3+3.2+3.1+3.3+3.3+3.3+3.2+3.1+3.3
Lodging away from home–−4.2−0.9−1.9−1.1+2.5+4.4+5.0+4.7+2.8+3.2+4.4
Fuels and utilities–+6.5+6.7+6.2+5.6+5.5+6.0+6.0+4.6+4.9+5.0+5.9
Household energy–+7.2+7.3+6.6+6.0+5.8+6.4+6.4+4.6+5.0+5.1+6.2
Energy services–+7.3+7.6+7.2+6.3+5.0+5.4+5.3+3.8+4.3+4.0+4.6
Electricity–+7.0+6.7+6.3+4.8+4.6+6.1+5.9+4.0+4.2+3.8+4.4
Utility (piped) gas service–+9.2+10.8+9.8+10.9+6.4+3.0+3.0+3.0+4.3+4.4+5.0
Fuel oil and other fuels–+3.2+1.3−6.0+1.1+22.9+31.9+33.2+23.4+22.4+30.2+43.8
Water, sewer and trash–+4.3+4.7+4.7+4.4+4.7+4.7+4.7+4.6+4.6+4.8+4.8
Furnishings and operations–+4.5+4.0+3.9+3.9+4.0+3.9+3.0+2.5+2.2+2.0+1.6
Furnishings and supplies–+2.6+3.4+3.8+3.9+3.6+2.8+2.4+1.3+0.8+0.6+0.2
Window and floor coverings–+2.8+2.7+2.6+4.8+5.2+3.7+2.1−1.9−2.5+2.0−0.8
Furniture and bedding–+3.0+3.6+4.0+4.2+3.1+1.3+1.4+1.4+0.5−0.8−2.4
Appliances–+0.4−1.5+0.5+2.9+1.1+0.2+0.2−2.7−1.0+0.1−1.0
Other household equipment–+2.5+5.1+5.3+4.0+3.0+3.8+2.3+0.4−0.1−0.5+1.3
Tools, hardware and outdoor–+3.7+5.4+5.6+4.8+6.0+5.0+3.7+2.9+1.6+1.4+2.2
Housekeeping supplies–+1.9+1.7+2.2+2.6+2.4+2.2+2.9+2.4+2.5+2.1+1.2

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 6.5 and over. Every chip prints its figure and sign. A dash is a month with no figure.

Observed .

Understanding housing

Where it stands today

The largest change over a year was Fuel oil and other fuels, up 43.8%, in September 2026.

What do the lines of this page measure?

These are the consumer price indexes for housing, 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 shelter (rent, owners' equivalent rent and lodging away from home), fuels and utilities, and household furnishings and operations.

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?19 lines, in the sections of the page
Consumer price index for housing: 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
ShelterShelter431.9+3.2%10
Rent of primary residenceShelter450.4+2.8%11
Owners' equivalent rentShelter445.3+3.3%9
Lodging away from homeShelter194.2+4.4%7
Fuels and utilitiesFuels and utilities353.0+5.9%3
Household energyFuels and utilities296.6+6.2%2
Energy servicesFuels and utilities298.1+4.6%6
ElectricityFuels and utilities306.2+4.4%7
Utility (piped) gas serviceFuels and utilities267.6+5.0%4
Fuel oil and other fuelsFuels and utilities519.7+43.8%1
Water, sewer and trashFuels and utilities335.4+4.8%5
Furnishings and operationsFurnishings and operations156.0+1.6%13
Furnishings and suppliesFurnishings and operations108.5+0.2%16
Window and floor coveringsFurnishings and operations60.1−0.8%17
Furniture and beddingFurnishings and operations131.7−2.4%19
AppliancesFurnishings and operations84.1−1.0%18
Other household equipmentFurnishings and operations56.3+1.3%14
Tools, hardware and outdoorFurnishings and operations117.0+2.2%12
Housekeeping suppliesFurnishings and operations243.2+1.2%15

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, Housing, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How have prices changed for rent, utilities and household goods?", https://500metrics.com/housing-inflation.

Can the data be downloaded?housing-inflation.csv

Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 2,280 rows, to , 142,215 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

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