The cadence is monthly, not weekly or daily.
Basket Report currently shows September 2026. Raw item histories preserve a missing BLS observation as unavailable; fixed national and seasonal basket totals may reuse the latest prior published price with its original source month disclosed.
BLS release cadence
The Consumer Price Index is released monthly. BLS average-price series for grocery items are published with that CPI data, so Basket Report’s core price pages update on a monthly cadence after the official release lands.
Basket Report refresh process
The release workflow fetches named BLS series, validates current observations and any disclosed carried prices, recalculates the fixed-weight 24-item basket, refreshes item changes and regional comparisons, generates The Receipt, updates downloads and rebuilds the static site. If the source month has not advanced, the release process does not publish stale pages as if they were fresh.
Missing or revised data
Some series can be unavailable in a month or revised later. Raw item-level histories preserve a missing BLS observation as unavailable rather than zero. Only the derived national Basket Index and fixed seasonal indexes may carry forward the most recently published valid price; those outputs retain and disclose the source month so the carried value is never presented as a new BLS observation. Regional comparisons continue to use directly published values under the documented methodology.
Frequently asked questions
Does BLS update grocery prices every day?
No. Basket Report uses BLS CPI Average Price Data, which is published monthly rather than daily.
When does Basket Report update?
Basket Report updates after the monthly BLS release once the required source series are validated. The current visible data month is September 2026.
What happens if one item is missing?
The raw item observation stays unavailable. For the national Basket Index and fixed seasonal indexes only, Basket Report may carry forward the latest prior published price, preserving and disclosing its source month. It never substitutes zero, interpolates a price, or labels a carried value as a new BLS observation.
Sources and methodology
- BLS Consumer Price Index news release
- BLS average retail food and energy prices
- BLS CPI data tables and databases
- Basket Report methodology
- Basket Report data downloads
Updated for September 2026 data · Source data is independently analyzed by Basket Report and does not imply BLS endorsement.
Read the release workflow
See how monthly data is validated before publication.