500metrics

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

How have prices changed for cars, fuel, insurance and fares?

The month ended : of the 13 lines, the change over a year was largest for Motor fuel, up 34.9%, and smallest for Motor vehicle insurance, down 5.0%.

Consumer price index for transportation, vehicles and fuel, 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 transportation, vehicles and fuel, each month, one row for each measure
  • Private transportation292.5186.8 to 292.5
  • New and used vehicles125.797.6 to 129.5
  • New vehicles179.6145.4 to 179.6
  • Used cars and trucks182.2134.2 to 216.9
  • Motor fuel380.4161.7 to 412.4
  • Gasoline376.6160.3 to 409.7

Consumer price index for transportation, upkeep and public transport, 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 transportation, upkeep and public transport, each month, one row for each measure
  • Vehicle parts and equipment189.6141.5 to 189.6
  • Vehicle maintenance and repair468.5275.3 to 468.5
  • Motor vehicle insurance850.4486.9 to 897.3
  • Public transportation306.3205.4 to 306.3
  • Airline fares327.0186.9 to 327.0
  • Transportation services463.2294.3 to 463.2
  • Utilities and public transport284.9214.0 to 284.9

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 13 lines on this page the change was largest for Motor fuel, up 34.9%, and smallest for Motor vehicle insurance, down 5.0%.

Of these lines, 10 rose, 2 fell and 1 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 transportation, change over a year, by line

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

  • Vehicles and fuel
  • Upkeep and public transport

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 transportation, change over a year in each month

Percent, ours, from the published values

Line
Private transportation–+1.9+0.5−1.3−1.0+4.6+6.2+8.2+5.2+4.6+5.0+7.0
New and used vehicles–+1.2+0.5−0.8−1.0−0.8−1.0−0.8−0.6−0.5−0.50.0
New vehicles+0.9+0.6+0.3+0.4+0.5+0.5+0.2+0.2+0.5+0.5+0.6+0.6
Used cars and trucks+4.7+3.6+1.6−2.0−3.2−3.2−2.7−2.0−1.8−1.9−2.3−1.5
Motor fuel–+1.1−3.1−7.3−5.5+19.2+29.1+40.9+27.2+24.8+27.9+34.9
Gasoline−1.6+0.9−3.3−7.5−5.6+18.9+28.4+40.5+26.7+24.6+27.4+34.2
Vehicle parts and equipment–+2.6+3.5+2.2+3.1+3.9+3.8+2.1+1.7+1.5+0.9+0.8
Vehicle maintenance and repair–+6.9+5.4+4.9+5.6+6.1+5.1+6.1+7.0+6.6+5.2+5.8
Motor vehicle insurance––+2.8+0.5+0.2+0.8+0.2−2.0−4.1−4.5−5.1−5.0
Public transportation–−3.9−2.0+1.6+5.0+10.2+13.7+16.7+16.9+16.1+15.4+15.6
Airline fares–−5.1−3.4+2.2+7.1+14.9+20.7+26.7+26.5+25.5+23.4+22.4
Transportation services–+1.4+1.6+1.4+2.3+4.1+4.2+3.9+3.2+2.9+2.5+2.8
Utilities and public transport–+3.1+3.1+3.4+3.4+4.1+5.0+6.0+4.9+5.0+6.0+6.4

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

Observed .

Understanding transportation

Where it stands today

The largest change over a year was Motor fuel, up 34.9%, in September 2026.

What do the lines of this page measure?

These are the consumer price indexes for transportation, 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 new and used vehicles, motor fuel, and upkeep, insurance and public transportation.

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?13 lines, in the sections of the page
Consumer price index for transportation: 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
Private transportationVehicles and fuel292.5+7.0%5
New and used vehiclesVehicles and fuel125.70.0%11
New vehiclesVehicles and fuel179.6+0.6%10
Used cars and trucksVehicles and fuel182.2−1.5%12
Motor fuelVehicles and fuel380.4+34.9%1
GasolineVehicles and fuel376.6+34.2%2
Vehicle parts and equipmentUpkeep and public transport189.6+0.8%9
Vehicle maintenance and repairUpkeep and public transport468.5+5.8%7
Motor vehicle insuranceUpkeep and public transport850.4−5.0%13
Public transportationUpkeep and public transport306.3+15.6%4
Airline faresUpkeep and public transport327.0+22.4%3
Transportation servicesUpkeep and public transport463.2+2.8%8
Utilities and public transportUpkeep and public transport284.9+6.4%6

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, Transportation, U.S. city average, seasonally adjusted, through September 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "How have prices changed for cars, fuel, insurance and fares?", https://500metrics.com/transportation-inflation.

Can the data be downloaded?transportation-inflation.csv

Download the last ten years of every line as CSV: 1,562 rows, to , 101,407 bytes.

Our text and compilation: CC BY 4.0.

Page updated