The Receipt · March 2026
What moved in the basket — March 2026
Retrieved June 21, 2026
The Basket Index fell 0.0% in March 2026, landing at $110.60 for the 24-item staple basket. The year-over-year change was −2.6%. This issue is built from BLS CPI Average Price Data for the national U.S. city average, with no imputed values.
What pushed it up
What pulled it down
- Eggs -$0.30 · −6.1% MoM
- Ham -$0.14 · −2.4% MoM
- Potato chips -$0.12 · −1.7% MoM
The read
Eggs did the most work on the downside, subtracting $0.30 from the fixed basket on its own. Tomatoes moved the other way, adding $0.71. That split is the story of March 2026: a few lines moved sharply while the all-in basket changed −2.6% from a year ago.
For citation, use the Basket Index as the headline number: $110.60 for March 2026, covering 24 of 24 configured staples at the U.S. city average. Item pages below carry the underlying BLS series IDs, CSV/JSON downloads, charts, and embed codes for source-level follow-up.
Biggest single-item moves
| Item | Price | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomatoes /lb | $2.26 | +18.6% | +24.0% |
| Eggs /doz | $2.35 | −6.1% | −62.3% |
| Lemons /lb | $2.00 | +2.5% | +1.0% |
| Ham /lb | $5.48 | −2.4% | −2.2% |
| Bread /lb | $1.81 | −2.3% | −3.8% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Average Price Data. Retrieved June 21, 2026 via the BLS Public Data API. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.