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Answer key · for teachers

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Figures as of November 14, 2026, from each chart's current data.

Chart 1 of 1 · Inflation

How fast are US prices rising?

The chart's answer: The inflation rate was 3.7% in September 2026: how much consumer prices changed from the same month a year earlier. Each point makes that comparison, back to 1914, the first year BLS can compare. Inflation peaked at 23.7% in June 1920 and at 14.8% in March 1980; the 9.1% of June 2022 was the highest since 1981. Prices fell as fast as 15.8% a year in 1921 and 10.7% in 1932. BLS collected no prices in October 2025, during a lapse in federal funding, so that month and October 2026 are missing.

Key numbers (Percent change in consumer prices from the same month a year earlier)

Questions

  1. Find two times when inflation was highest. What was happening in the country then?

    • Highest: 23.7% (Jun 1920)

  2. If inflation falls from 8% to 3%, are prices going down, or just rising more slowly?

    • Jan 1914 to Sep 2026: up 1.7 percentage points
    • Biggest rise from one point to the next: 6.1 percentage points, Jun 1946 to Jul 1946
    • Biggest drop from one point to the next: 5.5 percentage points, Jun 1947 to Jul 1947

  3. Find a stretch when the line is below zero. Why might falling prices be bad news for workers and businesses?

    • Jan 1914 to Sep 2026: up 1.7 percentage points
    • Biggest drop from one point to the next: 5.5 percentage points, Jun 1947 to Jul 1947

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, all items) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026 · chart.ly/charts/us-inflation-rate

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