Consumer Price Index: Durable and Personal Goods | January 2026

In January, price growth for consumer durables and personal goods accelerated after a slight pickup in December, with a month-over-month (MoM) increase of +0.75%. This is up from a revised monthly +0.43% increase in the month prior. However, it’s important to note that the acceleration was largely driven by a sharp increase in the recreation product group, growing at a rate of +2.44% month-over-month, up from +0.35% in December. Personal care products also added to the acceleration, growing to +0.65% in January from +0.18% in December. The other three product groups – appliances, communications, and home improvement – all showed price growth deceleration on a month-to-month basis, with communications posting the sole negative read month-over-month.

While month-over-month price growth in January was the largest gain in 12 months, it’s not unusual for the first month of the year to bring relatively sharp price increases. A new year is a new opportunity for manufacturers and retailers to adjust pricing, both in response to their holiday season promotions as well in response to broader market forces. If we compare price growth in January 2026 to price growth in January over the past decade, it ranks as fourth lowest (and second of the past five) and well below the +0.96% MoM average. Thus, much of the increase this January is likely due to normal seasonal upticks at the beginning of the year, rather than acceleration of inflationary forces.

• Key CPI Takeaways for January 2026 & Macroeconomic Outlook
• Product Group Highlights
  • Appliances
  • Communication
  • Home Improvement
  • Personal Care
  • Recreation
• CPI 2025 Forecast: Macroeconomic Summary
• Methodology

Overall OpenBrand Consumer Price Index Movement: The OpenBrand CPI of Durable and Personal Goods recorded a +0.75% monthly change in January, notching the fourteenth consecutive month-over-month increase and 19th of the last 20th months. The sharp price growth this month is building on gains from last month, possibly supported most by the large increase in the prices seen in the recreation group.

Discount Trends: January brought mixed changes in discount activity to the durables and personal goods sector, with frequencies climbing month-over-month to 23.1% of all durable and personal goods from 22.5% in the month prior.  The typical magnitude decreased slightly to 20.0%, down from 20.8% the month prior. 

Product Group Price Trends:  All product groups except communications and home improvement experienced an uptick in the rate of growth from the month prior, with prices of all groups except Communication climbing month-over-month.  The group summary is as follows:

• Appliance Group (+0.24%)  
• Communication Group (-0.29%)  
• Home Improvement Group (+0.69%)  
• Personal Care Group (+0.65%)  
• Recreation Group (+2.44%)  

See the full breakdown of product groupings. 

CPI: Appliances

Prices for appliances increased on a month-over-month basis in January to +0.24%, rising from a revised -0.59% in the month prior. The positive price growth was at least partially driven by the typical discount magnitude decreasing to 17.8% from 18.4%, while the frequency of discounts increased to 36.9% from 35.3% the month prior.

CPI: Communication

Prices of communication devices, including phones, tablets, computers, and printers, fell on a month-over-month basis to -0.29%, down sharply from a revised +1.31% the month prior. The frequency and magnitude of discounts were mixed in January. Frequency increased from 14.2% to 15.6%, while magnitude fell about 2 percentage points from 19.8% to 17.6% from December to January. The decrease in prices of communication devices most likely was led by the decent decrease in magnitude of discounts.

CPI: Home Improvement

Prices for home improvement goods decreased by +0.69% on a month-over-month basis in January, falling from a revised +0.88% in the month prior, showing 34 consecutive month-over-month flat or monthly increases.  The deceleration in price growth was at least partially driven by a decrease in the magnitude of discounts (17.4% from 18.7% the month prior), while the typical discount frequency remained flat at 9.8%.

CPI: Personal Care

Prices of personal care products grew sharply on a monthly basis in January by +0.65%. Some of this increase may be due to a decrease in the magnitude (falling from 22.7% in December to 22.3% in January) & an increase in the frequency of price discounts (rising from 22.9% in December to 23.6% in January).

CPI: Recreation

The rate of price growth of recreational products, including TVs, headphones, and speaker systems, increased to +2.44% on a month-over-month basis in January, up sharply from a revised +0.35% in December (growing by more than 2 percentage points in one month’s time). Some of this large increase in the pace of price growth is at least partially due to a decrease in the frequency of discounts – down to 29.7% in January from 30.3% in December – but the average magnitude of discounts remaining relatively flat – up only slightly to 24.6% from 24.5% over the same time period.

As of February 2026, the inflation picture for U.S. consumers has continued to improve, particularly when it comes to the everyday goods and big-ticket items that strained household budgets earlier in the decade. While prices remain higher than they were before the pandemic, the pace of price growth has slowed noticeably, and in several durable and personal goods categories, prices are now flat or edging modestly lower. For many households, this marks a tangible shift from inflation anxiety to cautious relief.

The most visible progress has been in durable goods. Prices for appliances, consumer electronics, and other household durables have stabilized after years of volatility. Retailers entered the year with healthier inventory levels and face a more price-sensitive consumer, prompting more frequent discounts and promotions. With demand no longer overheating and supply chains functioning more smoothly, sellers have less pricing power than they did just a few years ago. As a result, consumers shopping for replacement or discretionary items are increasingly finding that prices are no longer rising—and in some cases are slipping modestly.

Personal goods are following a similar trajectory, and are seeing slower price increases than in prior years. Many brands are working to hold prices steady to protect market share. The competitive nature of these categories, combined with easing input and transportation costs, has reduced the need for frequent price hikes. For consumers, this translates into more predictable spending and fewer unwelcome surprises at checkout.

A key driver behind this moderation is the continued fading of tariff-related cost pressures. The inflationary effects of Trump-era tariffs, which briefly raised prices across a wide range of imported consumer goods earlier last year, are now largely behind us. Companies have had time to adjust sourcing strategies, renegotiate supplier contracts, and absorb or offset costs that once flowed directly into retail prices. By early 2026, those tariff effects are no longer a major force pushing consumer goods prices higher.

The broader economic environment reinforces this trend. Economic growth remains steady but subdued, limiting demand-driven inflation. The labor market has cooled further, easing wage pressures that often spill over into goods prices. While employment remains stable, slower wage growth is helping keep overall cost pressures in check without undermining consumer purchasing power.

Interest rates also continue to shape the consumer landscape. Financial conditions remain restrictive enough to discourage excessive borrowing, particularly for large purchases, but expectations of gradual rate relief later in the year have improved consumer sentiment. This balance has encouraged cautious spending rather than the kind of demand surge that would reignite goods inflation.

For consumers in February 2026, the practical takeaway is that the inflation environment feels calmer and more manageable. Prices for durable and personal goods are no longer racing ahead, and in some categories are beginning to drift slightly lower. While this does not mean a return to pre-pandemic price levels, it does suggest that the era of sharp, goods-driven inflation has ended.

In short, early 2026 is shaping up as a period of stabilization for consumer goods prices. As tariff effects fade fully and competitive pressures intensify, households are benefiting from slower price growth, better availability, and a renewed sense of control over everyday spending decisions—a meaningful improvement after several challenging years.

Note: This summary is based on data available as of early February 2025 and may be subject to revisions in future releases.

For questions about the report, please contact Ralph McLaughlin at ralph@openbrand.com 

For press inquiries, please contact press@openbrand.com 

The OpenBrand CPI of Durable and Personal Goods is constructed using a data-driven methodology that ensures accuracy, timeliness, and transparency in measuring price trends for both short and long-lasting consumer products. The methodology consists of the following key components:

1. Data Collection

• Real-Time Price Tracking: Prices are sourced daily from online marketplaces, retail websites, and brick-and-mortar store listings.
• Retailer & Manufacturer Data: Aggregates pricing information from major retailers, direct-to-consumer brands, and wholesale suppliers into broader consumer categories.
• Temporal Coverage: Captures price variations over time, including daily discounts and price promotions

2. Product Selection & Tracking

• Durable and Personal Goods Focus: The index includes products with an expected lifespan of three years or more, such as home appliances, consumer electronics, and tools, as well as personal care products with a shorter lifespan, such as hair and skin care products, vitamins, over-the-counter medications, and oral care products. 
• Brand & Model Tracking: Individual brands and models are monitored to reflect pricing shifts within competitive product segments, including both permanent changes in listing price as well as temporary promotional pricing. 

3. Price Calculation, Adjustments, and Weighting

• Price Calculation: Tracks month-over-month and year-over-year price movements to measure price stability in the marketplace and take into account both longer-term changes in pricing (such as changes in manufacturer’s suggested retail price) as well as more short-term changes in pricing, such as promotional discounts and sales prices. 
• SKU-Removal Instead of Hedonic Adjustments: When a product (or SKU) becomes unavailable in the BLS goods basket, the BLS implements a SKU-replacement procedure whereby the next most similar product is used in its place, and a quality (hedonic) adjustment procedure is performed to get closer to an apples-to-apples price comparison. Since OpenBrand has data on nearly 100% of the SKUs pricing history in a given product category, we can simply remove that SKU from the basket and rely on price changes of the remaining SKUs in that basket. This eliminates the need for hedonic adjustment in the OpenBrand CPI basket.
• Weighting and Aggregation Method: A weighted geometric mean formula is used to minimize volatility and improve stability in price trend analysis at both the product grouping and category level. Instead of using sales-volume weights when aggregating the index, we take an alternative approach by using persistence-based weights for aggregation. Instead of more frequently purchased items getting more weight in the BLS’ CPI calculation, OpenBrand takes a more novel approach by weighting items with a more established price history in the market more heavily in our CPI calculation than items with a less established history.

4. Reporting & Updates

• High-Frequency Updates: Published freely on a monthly basis, with a subscription option for daily summaries across categories, sub-categories, and individual products.
• Comparative Benchmarks: We aggregate pricing as analogously as possible to traditional BLS CPI measures for benchmarking purposes.
• Transparency & Accessibility: Provides both open and paid data access for journalists, researchers, businesses, and policymakers.

By leveraging real-time data and advanced statistical techniques, the OpenBrand CPI offers an accurate and dynamic measure of pricing trends, helping businesses and consumers make informed decisions in an evolving economic landscape.