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A monthly explainer generated directly from Basket Index data. Republished by Basket Index, attributed to public BLS, FRED, and EIA sources.
As of Mar 2023 · Base 100 = Jan 2020
Generated from Mar 2023's observations.
As of March 2023, the Basket Index for a US family of 4 sits at 120.2 — meaning the cost of a standard household basket has risen 4.4% versus a year ago and is up 0.16% from the previous month.
Most of the move comes from rent of primary residence, electricity (residential), eggs (grade a, large) and bread (white loaf). Together these items account for roughly 62% of the year-over-year basket cost change.
Offsetting the increases: gasoline (regular unleaded) (-18.9%), bananas (-1.6%) are cheaper than a year ago.
Inflation is rarely caused by one thing. Energy prices feed into food production and shipping; rent moves with housing supply and interest rates; and grocery prices respond to supply shocks, weather, and demand patterns. Basket Index does not claim causality — it tracks the prices households actually face, and lets you see which categories are pulling the basket up.
Year-over-year change for each item, ranked by contribution to the basket move.
Items down year-over-year, helping offset the rise.
One email a month. The Basket Index reading, biggest movers, one chart.