# BLS API: Get inflation rate

> Gets the latest U.S. Consumer Price Index inflation for a spending category, with up to 24 recent months of history. Monthly changes are seasonally adjusted; 12-month changes are not.

Unofficial. Not affiliated with or endorsed by BLS.

- Page: https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov/get-inflation-rate
- Method: `bls.gov/get_inflation_rate`, version 1
- Website: bls.gov
- Returns: latest month, 12-month and 1-month percent changes, core inflation, release dates, history
- Effect: read (it gets data and changes nothing)
- Sign-in: none needed
- Cost: 1 credit per completed run (1¢ with pay as you go); failed runs are free

## Inputs

| Field | Type | Required | In the run below | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `months` | integer | no | `4` | Number of recent months to list, for example 6; at most 24. Default 1. |
| `category` | string | no | `"gasoline"` | Spending area, such as food at home or gasoline. One of "all items", "food", "food at home", "energy", "gasoline", "shelter", "rent", "electricity", "new vehicles", "used cars", "medical care", "apparel". Default "all items". |

## Output

From a run on Oct 23, 2026, shortened. Its input:

```json
{
  "months": 4,
  "category": "gasoline"
}
```

Its output:

```json
{
  "link": "https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.htm",
  "history": [
    {
      "month": "2026-09",
      "one_month_percent": 9.1,
      "twelve_month_percent": 34.2
    },
    {
      "month": "2026-08",
      "one_month_percent": 3.9,
      "twelve_month_percent": 27.4
    },
    {
      "month": "2026-07",
      "one_month_percent": -2.9,
      "twelve_month_percent": 24.6
    }
  ],
  "category": "gasoline",
  "latest_month": "2026-09",
  "release_date": "2026-10-14",
  "cpi_index_level": 383.182,
  "next_release_date": "2026-11-10",
  "one_month_percent": 9.1,
  "twelve_month_percent": 34.2,
  "unadjusted_series_id": "CUUR0000SETB01",
  "core_twelve_month_percent": 2.6,
  "core_unadjusted_series_id": "CUUR0000SA0L1E",
  "seasonally_adjusted_series_id": "CUSR0000SETB01"
}
```

## Run it

From code, with a Fous API key in `FOUS_API_KEY`; the answer's `data` holds the output:

```bash
curl https://api.fous.com/v1/runs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $FOUS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"method":"bls.gov/get_inflation_rate","input":{"months":4,"category":"gasoline"}}'
```

From an AI agent connected to the Fous MCP server: its `run` with the same method and input. To connect one, give it `set up https://fous.com/SKILL.md`.

## Ask your agent

- What is the latest 12-month change in gasoline prices from the CPI, with the last 6 months of history?
- Show me the most recent monthly CPI change for food at home, seasonally adjusted.
- I need the current inflation rate for shelter over the past 24 months from bls.gov.
- What were rent and electricity CPI changes last month, and when was that data released?
- Give me the all items consumer price index inflation for the latest month plus core inflation figures.

## Input schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "months": {
      "type": "integer",
      "default": 1,
      "maximum": 24,
      "minimum": 1,
      "description": "Number of recent months to list, for example 6; at most 24."
    },
    "category": {
      "enum": [
        "all items",
        "food",
        "food at home",
        "energy",
        "gasoline",
        "shelter",
        "rent",
        "electricity",
        "new vehicles",
        "used cars",
        "medical care",
        "apparel"
      ],
      "type": "string",
      "default": "all items",
      "description": "Spending area, such as food at home or gasoline."
    }
  }
}
```

## Output schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "required": [
    "category",
    "latest_month",
    "twelve_month_percent",
    "one_month_percent",
    "core_twelve_month_percent",
    "release_date",
    "link",
    "cpi_index_level",
    "unadjusted_series_id",
    "seasonally_adjusted_series_id",
    "core_unadjusted_series_id"
  ],
  "properties": {
    "link": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "history": {
      "type": "array",
      "items": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "month": {
            "type": "string"
          },
          "one_month_percent": {
            "type": [
              "number",
              "null"
            ]
          },
          "twelve_month_percent": {
            "type": [
              "number",
              "null"
            ]
          }
        }
      }
    },
    "category": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "latest_month": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "release_date": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "cpi_index_level": {
      "type": "number"
    },
    "next_release_date": {
      "type": [
        "string",
        "null"
      ]
    },
    "one_month_percent": {
      "type": "number"
    },
    "twelve_month_percent": {
      "type": "number"
    },
    "unadjusted_series_id": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "core_twelve_month_percent": {
      "type": "number"
    },
    "core_unadjusted_series_id": {
      "type": "string"
    },
    "seasonally_adjusted_series_id": {
      "type": "string"
    }
  }
}
```

## See more

- [BLS API: Convert US dollars between months with CPI](https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov/calculate-inflation.md): Converts a US dollar amount from one month or annual average to another using the US city average CPI-U for all items, not seasonally adjusted. Defaults to the latest published month.
- [BLS API: Get unemployment rate](https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov/get-unemployment-rate.md): Gets the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate and labor-force counts for the United States or a state, with up to 24 months of history.
- [BLS API: Get occupation wages](https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov/get-occupation-wages.md): Finds the latest published BLS pay and employment for an occupation in the US, a state, or a metro area, and compares it with the national median.
- [BLS API: Get occupation outlook](https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov/get-occupation-outlook.md): Finds the best-matching Occupational Outlook Handbook profile for a job title and returns its pay, entry requirements, jobs and 10-year outlook.
- [EIA API: Get electricity prices](https://fous.com/methods/eia.gov/get-electricity-prices.md): Gets a state's latest monthly electricity price for a customer type from EIA. It also returns the year-over-year change, the year-to-date average and the matching US average.
- [EIA API: Get weekly fuel prices](https://fous.com/methods/eia.gov/get-fuel-prices.md): Gets the latest weekly EIA retail gasoline and on-highway diesel prices for a U.S. area, with changes from the prior week and from 52 weeks earlier.
- [Trading Economics API: Get country economic overview](https://fous.com/methods/tradingeconomics.com/get-country-overview.md): Returns seven key economic indicators for a country from its public Trading Economics overview: GDP growth rate, inflation rate, interest rate, unemployment rate, government debt to GDP, currency and stock market. Indicators absent from the overview are null; the US dollar index is not reported as a USD exchange rate.
- [Macrotrends API: Get long-term price history](https://fous.com/methods/macrotrends.net/get-long-term-price-history.md): Gets decades of yearly commodity or stock-index price history from Macrotrends: yearly average, open, high, low, close, annual change and inflation-adjusted value for gold, silver, crude oil, natural gas, copper, Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq. The current year may be incomplete.
- [All BLS methods](https://fous.com/methods/bls.gov.md)