Cost of living calculator
Prices have not risen equally. Set what your household spends each month and see your own inflation rate, and how much more the same shopping costs now than it did a few years ago.
Updated Prices to September 2026 · ONS CPI indices and Price Index of Private Rents · Built 28 October 2026
Your monthly spending
Your inflation rate, year to September 2026
3.9%
CPI (all items): 3.5%. Higher than CPI by 0.4 points.
+35.4%
Your basket costs £2,524 a month now. The same shopping cost £1,864 in January 2021: +£660 a month.
CPI rose +32.2% over the same period, which would be +£615 on your basket.
From January 2021 to September 2026, your basket rose +35.4% and the CPI index +32.2%.
Where the change comes from
| Category | You spend | Price change since January 2021 | Extra a month | Last 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food and non-alcoholic drinks | £319 | +39.6% | +£90 | +1.3% |
| Rent | £289 | +36.4% | +£77 | +3.8% |
| Household energy | £156 | +82.6% | +£71 | +7.8% |
| Petrol and diesel | £80 | +50.4% | +£27 | +29.8% |
| Train, bus, taxi and air fares | £108 | +31.9% | +£26 | +2.3% |
| Eating out, takeaways and hotels | £213 | +39.4% | +£60 | +3.8% |
| Phone, broadband and post | £97 | +31.2% | +£23 | +5.8% |
| Recreation and culture | £356 | +24.0% | +£69 | +2.3% |
| Clothing and footwear | £78 | +24.6% | +£15 | +0.1% |
| Everything else | £828 | +32.2% | +£202 | +3.4% |
| Total | £2,524 | +35.4% | +£660 | +3.9% |
How this works
- Each category's price change comes from an ONS price index: CPI indices for most categories and the Price Index of Private Rents for rent. "Everything else" uses all-items CPI.
- Your basket is held fixed: we ask what today's shopping would have cost in earlier months. Your personal rate depends entirely on the spending shares you enter, and real households also change what they buy.
- Mortgage payments and council tax are not included (CPI excludes them).
- Rates worked out from published CPI indices (rounded to one decimal place) can differ from the official ONS rate by about 0.1 points.
More detail on the methodology page.
Private rents
The average UK private rent was £1,406 a month in September 2026, up 3.8% on a year earlier. This covers all private tenancies, not just new lets.
| Area | Average rent a month | Annual change |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | £1,406 | +3.8% |
| North East | £790 | +5.3% |
| North West | £975 | +5.7% |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | £869 | +4.8% |
| East Midlands | £928 | +3.8% |
| West Midlands | £983 | +4.4% |
| East of England | £1,298 | +3.8% |
| London | £2,338 | +3.5% |
| South East | £1,438 | +3.5% |
| South West | £1,251 | +4.2% |
| England | £1,466 | +4.0% |
| Scotland | £1,011 | +0.7% |
| Wales | £848 | +4.1% |
Source: ONS, Price Index of Private Rents, UK: monthly price statistics, September 2026.
Food prices
Average prices and annual changes for 179 grocery items.
Price of everyday items
Butter, milk, eggs, bread, petrol and more, with older ONS price history.
Inflation by category
CPI for the 12 spending categories, back to 1989.
Sources: Office for National Statistics: Consumer price inflation (MM23), Price Index of Private Rents, and Family spending in the UK (Table 3.1E5, financial year ending 2025). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.