Reading the monthly CPI release — a recurring explainer

Every month, on a date BLS sets a year in advance, the new CPI report lands. The same four numbers matter each time — once you know them, every release reads the same way.

The four numbers

• Month-over-month (MoM): the change from last month. Small, noisy, the first thing markets react to.
• Year-over-year (YoY): the change from twelve months ago. This is the 'inflation rate' headline.
• Headline: all items, including food and energy. Closest to what you feel.
• Core: all items excluding food and energy — smoother, used to read the underlying trend.

What usually moves it

Shelter is the heavyweight — because it's about a third of the basket, a small move there outweighs a big swing in a tiny category. Energy is the wild card: gasoline can flip a month from cool to hot on its own.

RaiseGauge updates automatically when the new release lands. The home page always shows the latest headline and what $100 from a year ago is worth now.

Open the raise calculator to check your own numbers.

Updated July 2026