On average, what percentage did the cost of living increase in the United States in 2025?
Executive summary
The most reliable headline measure for 2025 shows U.S. consumer prices rose roughly 3.0 percent over the year: the Joint Economic Committee summary reports CPI-U inflation for fiscal year 2025 at 3.01 percent year‑over‑year [1]. Official program adjustments tied to a narrower index differed—Social Security’s 2025 COLA was 2.5 percent because it uses the CPI‑W over a different quarter‑to‑quarter window [2].
1. What “cost of living” the data actually measures
When journalists or policymakers say “cost of living increased,” they are usually referencing measures of consumer price inflation such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ CPI-U (Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers) or its variant CPI‑W (for urban wage earners and clerical workers); these indices track price changes in a basket of goods and services and are the basis for official inflation statistics and benefit adjustments [1] [2].
2. The headline 2025 figure: about +3.0 percent
A rounded, authoritative answer is that consumer prices increased roughly 3.0 percent in 2025: the Joint Economic Committee summarized headline CPI‑U inflation at 3.01 percent year‑over‑year as fiscal year 2025 concluded, which is the clearest available single‑number summary of annual inflation in the provided reporting [1].
3. Why Social Security’s COLA differs from headline CPI
Social Security’s cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) for 2025 was 2.5 percent because the SSA uses the CPI‑W averaged across the third quarter of successive years to compute benefit increases—a narrower, legally defined method that can produce a different percentage than the broader, calendar‑year CPI‑U headline [2]. By contrast the 2026 COLA, determined later using the comparable quarter‑to‑quarter CPI, was set at 2.8 percent, illustrating how methodological choices and timing alter the reported percent change [3] [4].
4. Components, geography, and data caveats that matter
Inflation was not uniform: food, shelter, energy and medical care moved at different rates—food increased about 2.6 percent in one reported period and shelter and energy exhibited their own patterns, with regional differences such as higher year‑over‑year inflation in the West relative to the South noted in the Congressional summary [5] [1] [6]. Analysts should also account for data disruptions: the BLS noted it could not collect October 2025 survey data due to a lapse in appropriations and that seasonally adjusted series and some components were subject to revision, which imposes limits on the precision of short‑run comparisons [5] [7].
5. How to reconcile headline, programmatic, and local measures
Answering “what percentage did the cost of living increase” requires choosing the measure: the CPI‑U headline gives about +3.0 percent for the year [1]; programmatic adjustments like SSA’s COLA use CPI‑W and produced +2.5 percent for 2025 [2]; private or regional indexes (e.g., cost‑of‑living indexes by city or state) can show much larger or smaller changes in specific places—SmartAsset and other compilers using local baskets even found double‑digit increases in isolated cities in some comparisons [8]. All are truthful but reflect distinct baskets, time windows and purposes [9] [8].
6. Bottom line
For a concise, nationally comparable answer based on the provided reporting, consumer prices increased on average by about 3.0 percent in 2025 as measured by headline CPI‑U (3.01 percent year‑over‑year) while officially administered benefit adjustments and other indices can and do show different rates because of different measures and timing [1] [2].