What is the BLS average grocery price?
The BLS average price series (called APU, Average Price Data) reports the actual dollar price U.S. shoppers paid for a specific item, averaged across thousands of retail outlets and collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as part of the Consumer Price Index program. It is a real price — for example a gallon of whole milk averaged $4.22 in May 2026 — not an index number or a percentage.
That distinction matters: the headline CPI tells you how fast prices are changing in relative terms, while APU tells you the dollar figure on the shelf. Basket Report uses these APU dollar prices for all 24 staples and sums a fixed-weight selection into the Basket Index ($111.46 as of May 2026). Each item maps to a named BLS series and an ingestion date, and prices update monthly with the official release.
The data is a work of the U.S. government and in the public domain, free to cite, download and embed.
Frequently asked
What does BLS average price mean?
It is the actual average dollar price of a specific item across U.S. retail outlets, collected by BLS in the CPI program — e.g. $4.22 for a gallon of whole milk (May 2026).
How is average price different from CPI?
CPI is a relative index of how fast prices change; the APU average price is the dollar amount on the shelf. Basket Report charts the dollar prices.
Is BLS grocery price data free to use?
Yes. BLS data is U.S. government public-domain work, free to cite, download and embed; attribution is appreciated.