United States inflation rate, 1960 to 2024
United States inflation rate stood at 2.95% in 2024, down 1.2pp on the previous period.
Consumer prices in the United States rose 2.9 percent in 2024, after 4.1 percent in 2023. The window's extremes are 13.5 percent in 1980 and -0.4 percent in 2009.
How it is measured
The figures come from the World Bank's World Development Indicators (indicator FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG): the annual percentage change in the consumer price index, as compiled by the national statistical office. A CPI tracks the cost of a fixed, weighted basket of goods and services meant to represent typical household consumption, so the inflation rate is the year-over-year change in what that basket costs. Basket contents and weights are national choices, which is one reason cross-country comparisons need care.
What the curve shows
Inflation compounds silently: at 3.8 percent a year, this window's average, prices double roughly every 19 years. The chart's spikes are the years households remember. The negative reading in 2009 is deflation: the basket got cheaper, which sounds pleasant and usually signals demand weak enough to worry central banks.
Whose prices does the index track?
What does a negative figure mean?
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