WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Joint Economic Committee released its Monthly Inflation Update for March. The headline Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) jumped to 3.26 percent year over year in March, up from 2.41 percent in February. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, was 2.60 percent year over year, compared to 2.46 percent in February. From February to March, energy price inflation was 10.87 percent.

Year over year, food price inflation was 2.68 percent, down 0.28 percentage points, and energy price inflation was 12.53 percent, up by 15.78 percentage points. 

Regionally, inflation ended higher across the nation from February to March. CPI inflation was the highest in the Northeast (3.6 percent), followed by the Midwest (3.4 percent), the West (3.1 percent) and then the South with the lowest inflation of 3.0 percent.

From February to March, real average weekly earnings for all employees decreased by 0.91 percent, a decrease of 1.35 percentage points from March 2025, and hourly earnings ended down 0.61 percent, a 1.05 percentage point decrease from last year.

For the full update, visit: https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/inflation-update

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