Seattle inflation calculator: CPI-U since 1914

Food and services ahead of the nation

Food and beverages in Seattle moved +5.4 % over the 12 months to August 2026, against +2.6 % nationally and +3.0 % in the West. The group includes food at home, at +3.3 %, as well as food away from home. Recreation, +7.0 % against +2.7 % nationally, and other goods and services, +6.7 % against +4.2 %, also ran above the national pattern.

Shelter, at +2.4 %, was slower than the nation (+3.2 %). Transportation was +7.3 % and medical care +1.6 %. Core prices, which drop food and energy, came in at +3.3 %. Treat a single group reading with care: the BLS says local indexes carry substantially more sampling and measurement error than national ones.

Seattle above the West

Seattle ran above the West region in 4 of the 7 years from 2019 to 2025: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. In 2022, Seattle posted 9.0 % against 8.0 % for the region. Since 2019, Seattle prices are up 37.1 %, the West 31.4 %.

The December 2025 hole

An even-month index usually reports how prices moved over the past two months. For December 2025, Seattle had nothing to compare with: October 2025 was never priced because of the lapse in appropriations, so the BLS published the December level without a two-month change. The 2025 annual average is the mean of 5 indexes. The next Seattle index, for October 2026, is due on November 10, 2026, and it will have no 12-month change, since its year-earlier month is missing.

A record from 1918

The Seattle series starts in December 1914. Its fastest year, 1918, saw prices rise 24.5 %, the highest annual rate of any of the 23 metro indexes. The deepest fall came in 1921, at -11.2 %. The index covers the whole Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA metropolitan area; Washington State has no other local CPI. Over a longer span, $100 at the 1980 annual average needs $460.85 at August 2026 Seattle prices, against $426.48 on the West index and $406.53 on the national one. One caution: the BLS published no monthly Seattle index between December 1986 and December 1997. For a month in that span, the calculator uses the annual average of its year and says so.

Using the calculator with an even-month index

Type an odd month, such as March or July, and the calculator takes the Seattle index of the month before, then names it under the result. For a monthly series instead, choose the West region or the U.S. city average in the area list. The CPI by city page lists which areas follow which schedule.