April CPI report: What’s exactly in the latest inflation report – explaining key numbers

Media7 May 13, 2025

CPI report April 2025: The Consumer Price Index (CPI) report was released on Tuesday, showing inflation eased to a four-year low in April as the initial impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Overall consumer prices increased 2.3% from a year earlier, down from a 2.4% rise the previous month.

The April 2025 CPI report was released on Tuesday(Bloomberg)

The CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), showed a 0.2% monthly increase on a seasonally adjusted basis, rebounding from a 0.1% decline in March. Over the 12 months ending April, the all-items index rose 2.3% before seasonal adjustment, the smallest annual increase since February 2021.

Key Drivers:

Shelter: Up 0.3% monthly, contributing over half the monthly rise. Owners’ equivalent rent increased 0.4%, rent 0.3%, and shelter rose 4.0% annually, a persistent inflationary pressure.

Energy: Rose 0.7% monthly, led by natural gas (+3.7%) and electricity (+0.8%), though gasoline dipped 0.1% (or -2.3%). Annually, energy fell 3.7%, with gasoline down 11.8% and fuel oil -9.6%, but natural gas surged 15.7%.

Food: Declined 0.1% monthly, with food at home down 0.4%—the largest drop since September 2020—driven by a 12.7% fall in eggs. Food away from home rose 0.4%. Annually, food increased 2.8%, with food at home up 2.0%, eggs +49.3%, and food away from home +3.9%.

Core CPI (excluding food and energy): Up 0.2% monthly (versus 0.1% in March) and 2.8% annually (down from 3.2% or 3.3% in prior reports), reflecting stable underlying inflation.

Other Notable Changes:

Increases: Household furnishings (+1.0%), motor vehicle insurance (+0.6%), medical care (+0.5%), hospital services (+0.6%), prescription drugs (+0.4%), education (+0.1%), and personal care (+0.1%).

Declines: Airline fares (-2.8%), used cars and trucks (-0.5%), apparel (-0.2%), and communication.

Annual Gains: Motor vehicle insurance (+6.4%), education (+3.8%), medical care (+2.7%), and recreation (+1.6%).

The BLS replaced survey data for the leased cars and trucks index with vendor transaction data to enhance accuracy. The CPI-U index reached 320.795 (1982-84=100), up 0.3% unadjusted monthly. The CPI-W rose 2.1% annually, and the Chained CPI-U increased 2.1%. Selected CPI series will be rebased to December 2024=100 with July 2025 data.