54% of consumer basket now sees price increases above 3%, the highest share in nearly three years

More than half of all goods and services tracked in the consumer price basket are now rising at rates above 3% year-over-year. That 54% figure marks the widest distribution of elevated price increases since August 2023, and it tells a story that a single headline inflation number cannot: price pressures aren’t hiding in one or two volatile corners of the economy. They’re everywhere. For context, the pre-pandemic average for this metric hovered around 20%. So the current reading is roughly 2.7 times the norm. The numbers behind the breadth Headline PCE inflation, the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge, hit 3.7% year-over-year in July 2026. Core PCE, which strips out food and energy to get a cleaner read on underlying trends, came in at approximately 3.3%. Both figures remain well above the Fed’s stated 2% target. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that headline PCE ticked up 0.16% month-over-month in July. Data from the San Francisco Fed’s PCE Inflation Dispersion indicators paints an even starker picture. Nearly 80% of items surveyed are experiencing some degree of price increases. Core services, particularly when excluding energy and housing, remain a key driver. Sequential p...