What was the inflation rate a the end of Biden’s presidency

1. What the headline numbers say: CPI around 3% as Biden handed off the presidency

The Bureau of Labor Statistics data compiled in post‑term reviews show year‑over‑year CPI inflation at roughly 3.0% in January 2025, the last month of the Biden presidency, and many news summaries mark December 2024 at about 2.9–3.2% — down dramatically from the 9.1% peak in June 2022 ^{[1] [3] [2]}. Analysts treat January 2025 as the final monthly snapshot for Biden’s term; Texas A&M’s retrospective cites a 3.0% CPI and uses that figure to frame real wage trends over the four years ^[1].

2. How that compares to the peak and the Fed’s goal

Inflation reached an extraordinary peak in mid‑2022 (9.1% in June) and then trended downward through 2023–2024; by the handoff it was roughly one‑third of the peak level but still modestly above the Federal Reserve’s 2% objective ^{[3] [1]}. That decline is central to both defenses and criticisms of Biden’s record: defenders cite the large fall from peak levels, while critics point to the multi‑year stretch of elevated prices that eroded real wages ^{[1] [4]}.

3. Wages, purchasing power and the wider context

Available analysis shows that from January 2021 through January 2025 wages rose by about 19.9% while prices rose about 21.5%, producing a slight decline in average hourly earnings adjusted for inflation over the four years (a reported 1.3% drop) — a key dimension often cited when assessing the lived experience of inflation under Biden ^[1]. Other outlets note that incomes and certain wage gains were recorded even as many households felt cost‑of‑living pain, creating a complicated political picture ^[4].

4. Why small differences in monthly numbers matter politically and technically

Different outlets quote December 2024 as 2.9% or 3.2% depending on whether they use headline CPI, core CPI (excluding food and energy), or month‑averaging conventions; PolitiFact and other fact checks point out that the exact figure depends on the measure chosen ^[2]. Journalists and politicians routinely cite the December or January figure to argue whether inflation had “returned” to normal by the time Biden left office; both the roughly 3% reading and the sharp fall from 2022 are factually supported in the reporting ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

5. Competing narratives — credit, blame and political usage

Commentary is divided. Some pieces emphasize the recovery in jobs, wage gains and the fall in inflation from its peak as a positive legacy for Biden ^{[4] [1]}. Others, particularly political critics, underline that inflation remained above target for years and that the administration’s policies contributed to the problem, framing inflation as a defining political liability ^{[5] [6]}. Fact‑checking outlets caution that claims about “inflation easing” can be misleading without specifying which inflation measure is used ^[2].

6. Limits of the current reporting and what’s not in the sources

Available sources here provide CPI readings for December 2024 and January 2025 and discuss wage and employment context, but they do not offer a consensus single number labeled “Biden’s end‑of‑term inflation” beyond monthly CPI snapshots; detailed decompositions (for example, the specific drivers by sector) are not present in the supplied excerpts ^{[1] [3]}. If you want a definitive single Washington‑approved “end‑of‑term” inflation statistic or the raw BLS table, those specific primary data files are not quoted directly in these sources.

7. Bottom line for readers

At transfer of power in January 2025 the headline CPI inflation rate was about 3.0% (with December 2024 often reported at roughly 2.9–3.2%), well below the mid‑2022 peak but still above the Fed’s 2% goal; assessments of Biden’s record hinge on whether one emphasizes the decline from peak inflation or the duration of prices remaining elevated and the erosion of real wages ^{[1] [3] [2]}.