PCE Price Index
The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index tracks what households actually spend money on, published monthly by the BEA. Unlike CPI it uses a chain-weighted formula that captures consumers substituting toward cheaper goods, has broader coverage, and includes spending made on their behalf — so it tends to run about 0.3pt below CPI.
Latest reading
As of April 2026, PCE (PCE YoY %) stands at 3.8% — up from 3.5% the prior reading. The year-over-year rate is the focus, and the Fed officially targets 2% on PCE — not CPI. A wide gap below CPI suggests consumers are successfully trading down to cheaper alternatives. PCE moves in smaller swings than CPI, so a clear shift in its trend carries more signal. Series history runs from 1959 to present.
PCE YoY %
Next release: Jun 25, 2026
Full history
How to read it
The year-over-year rate is the focus, and the Fed officially targets 2% on PCE — not CPI. A wide gap below CPI suggests consumers are successfully trading down to cheaper alternatives. PCE moves in smaller swings than CPI, so a clear shift in its trend carries more signal.
Methodology & data
PCE is sourced from BEA via the Federal Reserve's FRED service (BEA via FRED (PCEPI), monthly, seasonally adjusted). We pull the complete history, chart it on a monthly basis, overlay SPY for context, and generate a dated plain-English reading from the latest release — with no smoothing or adjustment beyond what the chart legend states.
Every reading is stamped with its release date, last updated 2026-06-09. See our methodology for the standards every series on the site is held to.
- Category
- Inflation
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Source
- BEA
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Frequently asked questions
What is the PCE Price Index?
The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index tracks what households actually spend money on, published monthly by the BEA. Unlike CPI it uses a chain-weighted formula that captures consumers substituting toward cheaper goods, has broader coverage, and includes spending made on their behalf — so it tends to run about 0.3pt below CPI.
How do you read PCE?
The year-over-year rate is the focus, and the Fed officially targets 2% on PCE — not CPI. A wide gap below CPI suggests consumers are successfully trading down to cheaper alternatives. PCE moves in smaller swings than CPI, so a clear shift in its trend carries more signal.
Where does the PCE data come from?
BEA via FRED (PCEPI), monthly, seasonally adjusted. We chart the full history and publish a dated, plain-English reading with every release; the raw series is downloadable as CSV at /data/indicators/pce.csv.
How often is PCE updated?
PCE is a monthly series from BEA, refreshed here as soon as a new release posts to FRED.