Annual inflation in the US accelerated to 4.2% in May 2026, marking the highest year-over-year increase in the Consumer Price Index since April 2023. The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the data on June 10, showing a 0.5% month-over-month climb that matched economist forecasts.
Core CPI, which strips out the perpetually volatile food and energy categories, rose just 0.2% month-over-month. That came in below the 0.3% that economists had penciled in. On an annual basis, core inflation sits at 2.9%, a reading that suggests the underlying price pressures in the economy might be losing some steam even as the topline number accelerates.
The numbers in context
May’s 4.2% annual rate represents a meaningful jump from April’s 3.8% year-over-year reading. That’s a 0.4 percentage point acceleration in a single month.
The divergence between headline and core CPI tells a specific story: energy and food prices are doing most of the heavy lifting on the inflation front. The goods and services that the Federal Reserve watches most closely, the ones that reflect actual demand-driven price increases, are behaving more modestly.
