🇺🇸US2.4%
🇬🇧UK2.8%
🇮🇳India4.9%
🇵🇰Pakistan11.2%
🇹🇷Turkey28.6%
🇦🇷Argentina30.4%
IMF · BLS · World Bank · 2026
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Data: IMF · World Bank · BLS

Which categories
are hit hardest?

Food, housing, energy, healthcare, transport, education, and clothing — see category-level inflation breakdowns for 26 countries.

26Countries
7Categories
2023–26Years
FreeAlways

Inflation by spending category

Which parts of your budget are hit hardest — food, housing, energy, healthcare and more

US: BLS CPI sub-indices. Others: IMF sector estimates and national statistical agencies.

How to use this tool

1
Select a country and year from the dropdowns above. The bars update instantly.
2
The longest bar = the category with the highest inflation. Compare bars to see which parts of the budget are hit hardest.
3
Negative values (shown in green) mean prices in that category actually fell that year — common in energy during 2023–24 in the US.

Why category-level inflation matters

Headline CPI is an average — but your personal inflation rate depends on what you actually spend money on. If you rent a home, housing inflation hits you harder. If you drive a lot, energy inflation hurts more. If you have young children, education inflation is critical.

For example, in Pakistan in 2023, energy inflation hit 42.5% while clothing rose 21.9% — but the headline CPI was 29.2%. Someone spending heavily on energy experienced far worse than average. Meanwhile, in the US in 2024, energy actually fell 2.1% (deflation), helping keep the headline low even as housing rose 5.5%.

🏠
Housing — stickiest
Housing inflation is the hardest to reduce — rental contracts are long-term and construction lags demand by years.
⚡
Energy — most volatile
Energy prices swing wildly with oil markets and geopolitics. A single conflict can add 10–40% in a year.
🛒
Food — most felt
Food inflation is most felt by low-income households who spend a larger share of income on groceries.
🎓
Education — steady rise
Education costs rise steadily above headline inflation in most countries — a long-run financial planning factor.
Data sources: US figures from BLS CPI sub-indices. Other countries estimated from IMF sector-level CPI data, national statistical agencies, and World Bank WDI. Category breakdowns are estimates and may differ from official national figures.

Methodology

Category-level figures break down headline CPI into its component parts — food, housing, energy, healthcare, transport, education, and clothing — using the same annual percentage-change formula applied to each category's own sub-index.

Category inflation rate
Category Rate (%) = ((SubIndexthis year − SubIndexlast year) / SubIndexlast year) × 100

Important caveat: for the United States, these come directly from published BLS CPI sub-indices — the most granular official data we have. For other countries, where consistent official sub-index data isn't always publicly available, we use estimates derived from IMF sector-level indicators. Treat non-US category figures as informed estimates rather than official government sub-indices.

Full source-by-source breakdown on our Data Sources page.

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Frequently asked questions

The US annual inflation rate is estimated at 2.4% in 2026, near the Federal Reserve's 2% target. Housing (4.2%) and education (4.5%) remain the stickiest components, while energy and goods prices have moderated from their 2022 peaks. Source: IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2026.
US inflation peaked at 8.0% in 2022 — a 40-year high — due to: (1) massive COVID-era fiscal stimulus (CARES Act, American Rescue Plan) while supply was constrained; (2) global supply chain bottlenecks; (3) Russia's invasion of Ukraine driving energy and food prices sharply higher; and (4) pent-up consumer demand. The Federal Reserve raised rates from near 0% to over 5%, the fastest hiking cycle in four decades.