Measures · Consumer Price Index
Annual average(M13)
The BLS average of a year's monthly indexes — the basis of annual inflation tables.
The annual average is the mean of a calendar year's monthly index values, which BLS publishes as its own row — period 'M13' — in the CPI files. Annual inflation for a year, the number in year-by-year tables, is the percent change from one year's annual average to the next. That is a different quantity from the December-over-December change: the annual average reflects the whole year's price level, so a spike late in one year shows up partly in that year's average and partly in the next year's.
pumsdata shows the file's own M13 values verbatim — never recomputed from the months. One footnote: BLS still published a 2025 annual average even though October 2025 was never collected (the federal shutdown), so that year's average reflects the eleven published months.
Also known as: annual average index, calendar-year average, annual inflation.
See annual average in the data
Track CPI by category — headline, core, and the individual components that move them. Start free — no credit card needed.
Annual average — FAQ
What is annual average in inflation data?+
The BLS average of a year's monthly indexes — the basis of annual inflation tables. The annual average is the mean of a calendar year's monthly index values, which BLS publishes as its own row — period 'M13' — in the CPI files. Annual inflation for a year, the number in year-by-year tables, is the percent change from one year's annual average to the next. That is a different quantity from the December-over-December change: the annual average reflects the whole year's price level, so a spike late in one year shows up partly in that year's average and partly in the next year's.
Why does annual average matter?+
pumsdata shows the file's own M13 values verbatim — never recomputed from the months. One footnote: BLS still published a 2025 annual average even though October 2025 was never collected (the federal shutdown), so that year's average reflects the eleven published months.
Where does this inflation data come from?+
All figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index. pumsdata is an independent product and is not affiliated with the BLS.