Australian Inflation Dashboard
Consumer Price Index · Australian Bureau of Statistics
Independent data visualisation — not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Australian Bureau of Statistics. All figures are sourced from the ABS (abs.gov.au). This site has no login, no forms, no downloads, and collects no personal information.
Tracking the cost of living across Australia
A clear, current view of household inflation in Australia — headline CPI, the prices driving it, how the states compare, and where Australia sits among major economies.
Headline figures & international context
Australia's main inflation measures for the 12 months to May 2026, shown alongside projected inflation for Australia's major trading partners and developed economies.
How Australia compares
Basis: International tiles show projected 2026 annual-average consumer price inflation from the IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026). These are projections on a calendar-year-average basis and are therefore not directly comparable with Australia's ABS monthly figure of 4.0% (year to May 2026) shown above; Australia's IMF projection (4.0%) is used here for like-for-like comparison. Source: IMF WEO, April 2026.
Annual inflation by group
Annual price change for each of the 11 CPI groups over the year to May 2026. Groups shown in coral are rising faster than the headline rate of 4.0%.
Source: ABS, Consumer Price Index, Australia, May 2026 (original, weighted average of eight capital cities).
Headline CPI vs underlying inflation
Annual movement in the headline CPI, the trimmed mean and the weighted median. The shaded band marks the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2–3% target range.
Source: ABS, Consumer Price Index, Australia (monthly series), April 2025 to May 2026. RBA target band shown for context.
Group breakdown table
Annual and monthly price change and each group's contribution to the headline annual movement. Click a column heading to sort.
| CPI group | Annual change (%) | Monthly change (%) | Contribution (pp) | vs headline (4.0%) |
|---|
Contribution = the group's contribution to the All groups annual percentage change, in percentage points. Source: ABS CPI, May 2026 (Tables 2 & 4).
Underlying & special measures
Alternative views that strip out volatile or seasonal items to reveal the underlying trend.
*Volatile items are Fruit and vegetables and Automotive fuel. Source: ABS CPI, May 2026 (Table 6).
Inflation across the capital cities
Annual CPI change for each capital city, with the weighted average of all eight cities (4.0%) shown as the final bar for easy comparison.
Source: ABS CPI, May 2026 (Table 9 / capital cities comparison). Index reference period: September 2025 = 100.0.
Annual inflation by group and capital city
Annual price change for each CPI group across the eight capital cities, with the weighted average of all eight cities. Cells shaded coral are above the national All groups rate of 4.0%; cells shaded teal are below it — a heat-map of where prices are rising fastest.
| Group | Syd | Mel | Bri | Ade | Per | Hob | Dar | Can | Wtd avg |
|---|
Annual percentage change, May 2025 to May 2026. Source: ABS, Consumer Price Index, Australia, May 2026 (capital cities comparison).
Understanding the Consumer Price Index
What does the CPI measure?
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a general measure of price change for goods and services purchased by Australian households. It is compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics from prices collected across the eight capital cities using web-scraping, online and telephone collection, and administrative data such as supermarket scanner data. From October 2025 the ABS publishes a complete monthly CPI; the national figure is a weighted average of the eight capital cities.
Trimmed mean and weighted median
These are measures of underlying inflation. The trimmed mean excludes the most extreme price rises and falls each period, while the weighted median takes the price change at the middle of the distribution. Both reduce the influence of one-off or volatile movements, giving a steadier read on inflation than the headline figure. In the year to May 2026 the trimmed mean was 3.6% and the weighted median 3.6%.
Original, seasonally adjusted and the RBA target
Original series reflect prices as collected. Seasonally adjusted series remove regular seasonal patterns (such as holiday travel) to make consecutive periods easier to compare. The Reserve Bank of Australia aims to keep annual inflation between 2% and 3% on average over time — the band shaded on the trend chart.
International comparison — a note on method
Comparing inflation across countries is not straightforward: countries publish on different timetables and define their baskets differently. To keep the comparison consistent, the international tiles use the IMF World Economic Outlook (April 2026) projection of each country's 2026 calendar-year-average inflation. This is a projection, not a spot reading, and differs from Australia's ABS monthly figure. For Australia, the IMF projection of 4.0% is shown in that panel for a like-for-like comparison.
Where this data comes from
All Australian figures are drawn directly from the ABS release Consumer Price Index, Australia, May 2026 (reference period May 2026, released 24 June 2026; previously catalogue 6401.0). The full data tables can be downloaded from the ABS:
ABS · Consumer Price Index, Australia — latest release ↗
OECD · Consumer Prices statistical releases ↗ · IMF · World Economic Outlook ↗
Australian inflation since 1901
Annual movement in the Consumer Price Index for every calendar year since 1901. The chart shows how today's inflation compares with past episodes — the post-war spikes, the double-digit 1970s and early 1980s, and the low-inflation decades before the recent pick-up.
Annual percentage change in the CPI, calendar years. Source: ABS, Historical background and evolution to a Monthly CPI, 2025 (Table 3A.1). Index base: 1945 = 100.0; six state capital cities 1901–1980, eight capital cities from 1981.
| Year | Growth % | Year | Growth % | Year | Growth % | Year | Growth % |
|---|
Deflation (negative years) shown in teal; years of 5%+ inflation shown in coral. 2025 as published; 2026 not yet available on a calendar-year basis. Source: ABS, Table 3A.1.
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Play free online ↗Frequency of price updates in the monthly CPI
Not every price in the CPI basket is re-collected every month. The monthly indicator combines prices updated monthly, quarterly and annually, with the remainder carried forward. The mix — and so the share of the basket refreshed — depends on where the month sits in the quarterly cycle.
Share of the CPI basket, by update frequency, across the three months of each quarterly cycle. Source: ABS, Consumer Price Index methodology (monthly CPI indicator).