The Everyday Person Consumer Price Index – March 2026
By LaRue Gibson on April 14, 2026
Our friends at Strategas Securities LLC developed the Everyday Person Consumer Price Index [EPCPI] to better understand how the average consumer experiences inflation in their world. The Everyday Person CPI consists only of the components every consumer must buy – Food, Energy, Shelter, Insurance, and Children’s clothing. Understanding how the everyday person experiences their cost of living vis-à-vis their wages can inform us about the animal spirits of consumers in our economy. The EPCPI essentially is a “core” measure of inflation in the way someone without a PhD in Economics might think of it. The EPCPI will illustrate the deleterious effects of cumulative inflation during a period of relatively stagnant wages or the wealth effect of wages that grow more quickly than inflation.
EVERYDAY PERSON CPI HOTTER IN MARCH ENERGY AND DOWNSTREAM SUPPLY DISRUPTIONS CONTINUE
Strategas’ Everyday Person CPI popped in March amid the energy shock resulting from the U.S war with Iran. Consumers remain pressured by the cumulative impact of inflation, and the war does not help. If the shock from the disruption of oil, natural gas, and fertilizer supplies, and the resulting price increases prove limited, then with wage growth at current levels consumers may resume their catch-up. If the conflict does not resolve quickly, and energy costs remain elevated, the Everyday Person will continue to fall further behind. This much is true, until the conflict is resolved, the consumer will feel less well off.
Note: Everyday Person Take-Home Pay defined as surplus/deficit vs inflation in necessities.
Subsectors list major CPI components from which the Everyday Person measures selection essentials. Not all components are listed.
All October data interpolations based on official September & November data. Motor Vehicle Insurance interpolated for October & November.
CONSUMERS’ WAGES STILL TRAIL INFLATION
A SUSTAINED ENERGY AND FOOD SHOCK MAKES CATCHING UP EVEN HARDER
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