Numerator: Prices for Everyday Household Items Up 2%

Prices for everyday goods were up 2.0% in March versus a year ago, according to research firm Numerator’s recent report. A similar trend is expected for the comparable categories covered in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI release, Numerator said.

Prices for everyday household purchases decreased 0.02% in March following a 0.19% increase in February and a 0.33% decrease in January. Numerator’s March 2026 Consumer Goods Price Index (CGPI) features an advance read on inflation trends across everyday consumer goods, with expanded breakouts by income level, generation and U.S. census region.

Additional key findings from Numerator’s March CGPI included:

• Low-income and Gen Z consumers experience higher levels of inflation for everyday household goods. Prices have increased 33.5% and 35.4%, respectively, for those groups since January 2018 versus the 31.6% national average.
• Regionally, consumers in the South census region have experienced higher levels of inflation since 2018, while the Midwest has seen higher month-over-month inflation in recent months.

“March’s data reinforces that the path back to price stability will remain uneven,” said Paul Stanley, senior economist at Numerator. “While cooling inflation is welcome news, escalating tensions in the Middle East pose a renewed risk, with rising costs across supply chains that could put upward pressure on prices in the months ahead. That uncertainty is showing up differently across households: according to our March sentiment data, lower-income consumers remain focused on rising prices, while higher-income households are more concerned about global conflicts that could shape inflation in the months ahead.”

In other recent economy news, February saw increased shopper spending before gasoline prices rose due to the attacks on Iran, according to The Associated Press.

Retail sales rose a better-than-expected 0.6% in February, from a revised 0.1% decline in January, the Commerce Department reported last week. “Retail analysts say it was a strong showing given that inflation has rattled American households, but that the war in Iran may have dented the psyche of consumers with spending on gasoline racing higher over the past five weeks,” the outlet wrote.