Boston inflation calculator: CPI-U since 1914

What the Boston index covers

The BLS prices goods and services across the Boston-Cambridge-Newton metropolitan area, which reaches from eastern Massachusetts into southern New Hampshire. The index has run since December 1914 and now sits at 362.575 (base 1982-84=100), meaning a basket that cost $100 in the early 1980s costs about $363 at Boston prices today. The national index stands at 336.94 for the same month: the gap says Boston prices rose faster than the average since 1982-84, not that Boston costs 8 % more than the rest of the country.

Over recent years Boston has run warmer than the nation. Annual inflation was 3.7 % in 2023, 3.2 % in 2024 and 3.1 % in 2025, against 4.1 %, 2.9 % and 2.6 % nationally. The Northeast region as a whole was at +4.2 % over the latest 12 months; the Northeast page has its table.

Odd months only

Boston is one of the metros the BLS prices every other month, in odd months. For a lease signed in June 2026, the closest Boston index is May 2026, and that is what the calculator uses. Some sites quietly use the national index for the missing months, or average the two neighbors; we do neither. If you need a monthly figure for a contract, the Northeast region and the U.S. city average are published every month, and the CPI by city page explains which one a clause usually names.

Rent and shelter in Boston

Shelter weighs more in an expensive housing market, and in Boston it has been the main driver. A rent of $2,500 in September 2021 would be $3,235 today if it had followed the Boston shelter index exactly, a rise of 29.4 %. Actual renewals vary building by building; the index follows the average rent of the sample, including units that did not change hands.

Energy has swung the other way and back: up 21.7 % over the latest 12 months in Boston. Medical care was -0.5 % and apparel -1.8 %. Those smaller groups move a lot from one release to the next because the local sample is small, and the BLS warns that metro indexes are more volatile than the national one.

How Boston came through October 2025

No index in the country exists for October 2025: the BLS collected no prices during the lapse in appropriations. For Boston it made little difference, because October is not a Boston month. The September 2025 index was published as usual, if late, and November 2025 was priced in the second half of that month. Areas priced in even months lost their October index and had no two-month change for December; Boston kept both its rhythm and its full annual average, built from the six odd months.