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This story on the March 2026 CPI inflation report is developing and will be updated with more details.
Inflation has risen in March as consumer prices jumped amid economic turmoil caused by the impact of the Iran war on the energy market.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday said Consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods such as fuel, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.9% from last month and 3.3% higher than a year ago. The annual figure was up from 2.4% in the previous month, and the monthly increase was higher compared to 0.3% in the previous month.
Expectations versus reality
Both the 0.9% monthly increase and the 3.3% annual increase are in line with the expectations of economists polled by LSEG.
So-called core prices, which exclude variable rates of fuel and food to better gauge price growth trends, were up 0.2% monthly and 2.6% from a year ago. Both of those figures were cooler than economists’ forecasts of 0.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.
The core CPI figures were slightly warmer than February’s reading, showing that prices rose 0.2% monthly and 2.5% from a year earlier.
Economists have noted that inflation data from December 2025 to April 2026 will be affected due to data collection disruptions caused by the 43-day government shutdown.
During the shutdown, the BLS was unable to collect data and used a carry forward method to cover the missing October CPI report and the missing data in the November report. Economists say this is likely to transmit a downward bias in inflation data until this spring, when new data will eliminate the discrepancy.
Cost of living deterioration
High inflation has put a lot of financial pressure in recent years on many US households, who are forced to pay more for everyday necessities like food and rent. Inflation is especially hard on low-income Americans, because they tend to spend more of their already stretched paychecks on necessities and have less flexibility to save.
