Consumer prices rose 0.4% in October, BLS says, but a 2025 data gap leaves no annual inflation rate

Consumer prices climbed 0.4% in October after seasonal adjustment, a smaller rise than September's 0.6%, according to the Consumer Price Index release the Bureau of Labor Statistics published on November 10. Unlike most months, the report did not say how much prices had risen over the past year.

The gap goes back to the federal shutdown of late 2025, which BLS describes as a lapse in appropriations. The bureau gathered no survey prices that October, so most series are missing an index for the month, and without a starting point the bureau says it cannot report how those prices changed over the year to October 2026. The missing figures include the overall index, food, energy and the core measure that excludes food and energy. The latest annual figure is September's: prices were 3.7% higher than a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August, according to the bureau's September release.

What drove October's increase

Housing costs accounted for a large part of the rise. The shelter index rose 0.3%, and BLS said it accounted for over 30% of the month's overall increase. Within shelter, the owners' equivalent rent index rose 0.3% and the rent index 0.2%.

Food rose 0.5% after no change in September. Grocery prices, measured by the food at home index, were up 0.4%, with beef up 0.9% and snacks up 1.0%. Food away from home, which covers restaurant meals, rose 0.5%.

Energy rose 0.7%, far less than September's 5.2% jump. The seasonally adjusted gasoline index rose 1.0%, although BLS notes that before seasonal adjustment gasoline prices fell 0.7% in October. Electricity rose 0.9%, and utility gas service fell 0.8%.

Outside food and energy, prices rose 0.3%, the same pace as in August and September. Motor vehicle insurance rose 0.7%, recreation 0.8% and medical care 0.3%, with hospital services up 0.8%. Used cars and trucks fell 1.2%, and communication fell 0.1%.

At the pump and in paychecks

Gasoline is one of the few items for which BLS could publish a yearly change: before seasonal adjustment, its index stood 37.4% above October 2025, compared with a 12-month rise of 34.2% in September. Weekly survey prices from the Energy Information Administration show pump prices easing since. Regular gasoline averaged $3.995 a gallon nationally on November 9, 15.8 cents less than a week earlier but 93.9 cents more than a year before. Diesel averaged $6.127, up $2.290 from a year earlier. EIA's prices include all taxes.

Pay matched prices in the month. In its real earnings release, BLS said average hourly earnings for all private-sector employees rose 0.4%, the same as the CPI, so hourly pay adjusted for inflation was unchanged from September. The bureau dropped its usual comparison with a year earlier for the same reason: it has no October 2025 price data.

Contracts that use the index

BLS notes that many labor agreements and pension plans link pay changes to the unadjusted index. For contracts that need an index value for a month with no data, a BLS fact sheet describes an approximation the parties can use if they all agree: multiply the index values for the months just before and just after the missing one, then take the square root. The bureau cautions that figures calculated this way are not official CPI values and that percent changes based on them are unofficial estimates.

The unadjusted CPI for all urban consumers stood at 337.511 in October (1982-84=100), up 0.2% from September. The index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, CPI-W, was 331.147. BLS has scheduled the November report for Thursday, December 10, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern time. For the job market side of the economy, see our report on October payrolls.