CONSUMER PRICE INDEX MAY 2026

Written by Michael Thervil

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX MAY 2026

[Consumer Price Index May 2026] The Consumer Price Index for May appears to show that despite all the domestic and international political tension, American consumers are still racing to spend in order to meet their daily needs for the exceptions of several sectors. On the surface, “All Items” grew to 4.2% even though the biggest winner was “Energy” which grew to a staggering 23.5%. “Food” stood at 3.1% in terms of growth and “All Times Less Food and Energy”2.9%. Drilling down into “Food”, the two-year trend of “Food Away From Home” continues to grow to the tune of 3.5% for the month of May this year. “Food At Home” stood at 2.7%. Looking at the “Food From Home” category, the biggest leaders were both “Fruits and Vegetables" and "Nonalcoholic Beverages and Beverage Materials" which grew to 6.1% and 5.8% respectively.

The next three sectors which stood equally when compared were "Cereals and Bakery Products”, “Meats, Poultry, Fish, And Eggs”, and “Other Foods At Home” stood at 1.9%, 1.8%, and 2.0%, respectively. The only drop into the negative in this category was “Dairy and Related Products” which fell to the tune of -1.0%. continuing in the sector of “Food”, “Food Away From Home” stood at 3.5% with “Full Service Meals and Snacks” taking the lead when it came to growth and spending at 3.8%. “Limited Service Meals and Snacks” grew to 3.3% for the month of May.

The largest sector in terms of growth and consumer spending “Energy” when drilled down led to the findings of “Energy Commodities” showing signs of growth and spending to the tune of 40.6% followed by exceptionally small growth in the “Energy Services” which at 5.3%. “Fuel Oil” grew to 58.9% followed by “Gasoline (All Types)” grew to 40.6%. The speculative reason why the appearance of growth in the U.S. energy market is due to several reasons, inflation, the tri-sided war featuring the U.S. and Israel against Iran, and summer travel.

Drilling down into the “All Items Less Food and Energy”, the biggest taker was “Services Less Energy Services” which stood at 3.4% as compared to “Commodities Less Food and Energy Commodities” which stood at 1.1%. Looking at “Commodities Less Food and Energy Commodities”, the biggest industries in terms of growth and consumer spending were “Apparel” and “Tobacco and Smoking Products” which stood at 4.8% and 7.8%. Moderate growth was seen in “Alcoholic Beverages” (2.1%). The selling of “New Vehicles" fell flat in terms of growth and spending at just 0.2%. industries that fell into the negative were “Medical Car Commodities” followed by “Used Cars and Trucks” which fell into the negative at -1.8% and -2.0%.

Observing “Services Less Energy Services”, all sectors and markets were up showing signs of growth and consumer spending. The biggest winner was “Transportation Services” which stood at 4.1%, followed by “Medical Care Services” which grew to 3.6%, followed by consumer spending on “Shelter” which grew to 3.4 for the month of May.