WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Joint Economic Committee released its monthly inflation update. Over the past year (August 2024 to August 2025), the consumer price index rose 2.92 percent, increasing by 0.39 percentage points. Month-over-month it increased by 0.18 percentage points ending August 0.38 percent higher. Real average weekly earnings over the month (July 2025-August 2025) decreased by 0.24 percentage points ending August down 0.11 percent. 

The core CPI-U (consumer price index for all urban consumers), which excludes food and energy, increased by 0.03 percentage points moving from 0.32 percent in July to 0.35 in August and over the past year (August 2024-August 2025) it dropped by 0.09 percentage points to 3.11 percent from 3.20 percent. 

Regionally, the Northeast (3.3 percent) and the West (3.2 percent) came in with higher inflation than the Midwest (2.8 percent) and the South (2.6 percent). Yet, the West had the largest year-over-year increase moving from 2.2 percent in August 2024 to 3.2 percent today, while the Northeast ticked down from 3.4 percent in August 2024 to ending last month at 3.3 percent. 

Over the past year, annual food CPI-U inflation ended August at 3.19 percent, up 1.14 percentage points from August 2024, while annual energy inflation increased by 4.20 percentage points to end August at 0.22 percent. 

While inflation did increase, it does remain below the average of 3.30 percent the nation experienced from 1914 to 2024 and it is significantly lower than the 8.0 percent recorded in 2022, a record high in recent decades. 

That said, consumers may still feel the pinch as real average weekly wages slightly decreased from July 2025 to August 2025, down by 0.11 percent and year-over-year is down by 0.68 percentage points for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls. This is adjusted for inflation. 

For the full update, with greater detail of the U.S. consumer price index inflation update, visit: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/inflation-update 

 

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Upcoming Releases Available on the JEC Republican Website

Date	Time	Release	Data source
Sep 12	10:00 AM	Monthly Fiscal Update, August 2025	U.S. Treasury
Sep 19	10:00 AM	State Employment Update, August 2025	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Sep 25	08:30 AM	Monthly GDP Update, Q2 2025 Third Estimate	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Sep 26	08:30 AM	Monthly Expenditures Update, August 2025	Bureau of Economic Analysis
Oct 03	08:30 AM	Monthly Employment Update, September 2025	Bureau of Labor Statistics
Oct 07	10:00 AM	Monthly Debt Update, October 2025	U.S. Treasury
Oct 07	08:30 AM	Monthly Trade Update, August 2025	Bureau of Economic Analysis