Consumer Price Index, July 2026

Released: 2026-08-17

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 3.0% year over year in July, following a 2.8% gain in June.

On a year-over-year basis, higher prices for gasoline and travel tours in July contributed to the acceleration in the headline CPI. Moderating the faster price growth was a deceleration in the food purchased from stores index. The all-items CPI excluding gasoline rose 2.2% for the third consecutive month.

The CPI rose 0.5% month over month in July. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.3%.

Chart 1 
The 12-month change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and CPI excluding gasoline

Chart 2 
Five of the eight major components accelerate in July

Gasoline prices increase at a faster pace in July

On a yearly basis, prices for gasoline grew at a faster rate in July (+25.7%) compared with June (+20.5%). The conflict in the Middle East, including the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the partial closure of Red Sea shipping routes in late July, put upward pressure on gasoline prices.

Chart 3 
Prices at the pump rise in July

Prices for travel tours and air transportation increase

Year over year, prices for travel tours rose at a faster pace in July (+15.2%) compared with June (+6.8%). Contributing to higher prices were more expensive hotels and flights to US destination cities, coinciding with the hosting of World Cup matches.

Similarly, prices for air transportation rose 12.0% year over year in July following a 9.6% increase in June. Contributing to the price increase were higher jet fuel costs.

Grocery price growth slows but continues to outpace headline inflation

Prices for food purchased from stores grew at a slower pace in July (+3.1%) compared with June (+3.9%) on a year-over-year basis. Despite the slowdown, July was the 18th consecutive month that grocery price inflation outpaced the all-items CPI.

The year-over-year deceleration in grocery prices was driven by slower price growth for fresh vegetables (+3.9%) and fresh or frozen chicken (+0.3%) as well as lower prices for cereal products (-1.7%). Moderating the slowdown was higher prices for fresh fruit in July (+6.1%) compared with June (+1.7%).

On a monthly basis, price growth for fresh fruit recorded the highest month-over-month movement for the month of July since 2011, at 4.7%. Driving the monthly increase were higher prices for berries and melons.

Chart 4 
Grocery price inflation continues to outpace growth in the all-items Consumer Price Index

Regional highlights

Year over year, prices rose at a faster pace in all provinces in July compared with June, except for Ontario.

On a yearly basis, Ontario was unchanged at 2.0% in July compared with June (+2.0%). This was the smallest price increase among the provinces, stemming from declines in homeowners' replacement cost (-4.6%) and prices for natural gas (-18.7%).

Nova Scotia had the highest rate of inflation among the provinces at 5.0% in July. Driving the acceleration were higher prices for electricity (+3.3%) and rent (+8.7%).

In New Brunswick, faster price growth was led by higher prices for electricity (+4.4%) and traveller accommodation (+4.5%).

Chart 5 
The Consumer Price Index accelerates in all provinces except Ontario

Products

The "Consumer Price Index Data Visualization Tool" is available on the Statistics Canada website.

More information on the concepts and use of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is available in The Canadian Consumer Price Index Reference Paper (Catalogue number62-553-X).

For information on the history of the CPI in Canada, consult the publication Exploring the first century of Canada's Consumer Price Index (Catalogue number62-604-X).

Two videos, "An Overview of Canada's Consumer Price Index (CPI)" and "The Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Your Experience of Price Change," are available on Statistics Canada's YouTube channel.

The podcast ''Eh Sayers Episode 18 - Why Food Inflation Is Such A Hard Nut To Crack'' is also available.

Find out answers to the most common questions posed about the CPI in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Contact information

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).