PRIMERICA HOUSEHOLD BUDGET INDEX™ (HBI™): Rising Gas Prices Limit Purchasing Power of Middle-Income Americans in April
The latest Primerica Household Budget Index™ (HBI™) data, a monthly economic metric that examines how inflation and wage trends impact the ability of middle-income families to afford life’s everyday necessities, is estimated at 99.4% in April, down 1.7% from March and 0.3% from a year ago.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260527431413/en/ The latest Primerica Household Budget Index™ (HBI™) data, a monthly economic metric that examines how inflation and wage trends impact the ability of middle-income families to afford life’s everyday necessities, is estimated at 99.4% in April, down 1.7% from March and 0.3% from a year ago. The decline is driven mainly by increasing gas prices, which rose 11% in the past month and 28% year-over-year.
The decline is driven mainly by increasing gas prices, which rose 11% in the past month and 28% year-over-year.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation for a comprehensive basket of goods for all U.S. households, increased 3.8% in April compared to a year ago. Adjusting the CPI to narrow the impact of inflation to focus specifically on middle-income families and their purchase patterns, inflation rose to 4.4% in April 2026 compared to April 2025. The cost of necessity items as used in the HBI™ metric (food, utilities, gas, auto insurance, and health care) for middle-income Americans is up 5.5% from a year ago.
