A clearer picture.
A traceable number.
The Economic Picture makes Australia’s official inflation figures easier to understand, compare and explore. This section builds on The Inflation Picture, our standalone inflation guide.
Official figures. Clear sources.
Our figures come from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). We make them easier to explore, explain what the measures mean, and show how our calculations work.
This edition uses September 2026 monthly CPI figures and June quarter 2026 quarterly figures and household living-cost measures. Each chart keeps the dates available for its own series.
We use a fixed edition of the data. New releases are checked and added deliberately; the figures do not update automatically.
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics. ABS aggregate statistics are used under their source-specific Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence and exclusions. Calculations and presentation by The Inflation Picture.
Why two inflation measures?
Headline inflation describes the overall change in prices. The trimmed mean removes unusually large price movements to help show the broader pattern.
Measures and chart coverage
The snapshot uses published monthly annual CPI and trimmed mean changes for September 2026. The longer homepage chart uses quarterly headline index ratios and published quarterly trimmed mean annual changes, through June 2026. Headline original series and seasonally adjusted trimmed mean remain distinct.
What gives a category its influence?
Both its price change and its share of spending matter. The basket graphic shows spending shares; published contributions show how much each category adds to inflation.
Weights, contributions and your estimate
Basket areas use the published 2025 weighting pattern, with December 2024 as its price-reference period. Annual contributions use published ABS September 2026 growth contributions, rather than weight multiplied by annual change.
Your inflation uses your chosen weights and category price changes as an indicative scenario. Its standard mix follows the applicable published weighting pattern. Both estimates use the same simplified calculation; neither is an exact reconstruction of official CPI.
What do the money comparisons show?
They show how consumer purchasing power changes: what an earlier amount would buy now, or what the same basket would cost. They do not show investment returns.
Dates and calculation method
Quarterly headline CPI covers September quarter 1948 to June quarter 2026. The dollar charts offer all available quarters in that history, with both charts driven by the same amount and dates. Purchasing power divides by the CPI ratio; equivalent cost multiplies by it.
Pre-1966 values are in equivalent Australian dollars. No earlier retail-price series is appended, and monthly and quarterly histories are not spliced.
What counts as essential spending?
The ABS groups purchases into discretionary and non-discretionary categories: broadly, optional and essential spending. What is optional varies between households.
Classification and calculated history
Monthly discretionary and non-discretionary indices run from April 2024. Quarterly history covers September quarter 2005 to June quarter 2026 and is calculated from ABS data: earlier quarterly indices are rescaled at September quarter 2025, then extended using three-month averages of published monthly indices. Earlier percentage movements are preserved.
This OD Engine linked series is not an ABS-published quarterly series. Annual comparisons across the link combine the two measurement regimes. The original legacy release remains separately preserved. Detailed categories follow the explicit parent links in the retained ABS CPI structure file.
Explore the quarterly history and calculation method · ABS classification explanation
What if figures are missing or different?
Missing figures stay unavailable; they are never treated as zero. Older spending baskets keep their original categories, rather than being forced into modern groupings.
Comparability and rounding
Published modern weight editions are compared directly without interpolation. The historical basket explorer preserves 17 native regimes from the ABS 1948–2017 collection, without forcing them into current categories.
Cumulative changes use index ratios. Figures are rounded for display, and category contributions may differ from the headline due to rounding. Release summaries compare observations within one adopted edition; they do not claim a real-time archive of what was published in each earlier release.
Is this an official website?
Published by Common Sense Money Pty Ltd. Created by Scott Phillips. The Inflation Picture is an independent guide, not an ABS, RBA or government publication.
How we update the figures
We publish a fixed data edition and update it after the required official figures and comparisons have been checked. Monthly CPI and quarterly measures have different release dates, so each chart shows the dates available for its own series.
Comparing cities and households
Capital-city figures describe how prices have changed, not which city is cheaper. Household living-cost measures describe averages for different household groups, rather than a personalised inflation rate.
Sources and coverage for these comparisons
City category detail uses the same released September 2026 CPI source families, including city-specific published weights and annual growth contributions. Capital-city CPI does not describe prices across the whole state or territory.
Household comparisons additionally use ABS Selected Living Cost Indexes, June quarter 2026, Table 1, via OD-ECON-LCI-NATIVE-0.1.0. These are separately pinned application additions, with rights and exact source identity retained in the feature release lock. They are not automatically updated.
Sources: ABS CPI September 2026 and ABS Selected Living Cost Indexes June 2026. ABS aggregate statistics are used under their source-specific CC BY 4.0 attribution and exclusions; calculations and presentation by The Inflation Picture.
Corrections and feedback
Spotted a problem with a figure, explanation or tool? Email corrections@theinflationpicture.com.au. Please include the page address and what you noticed.
Your privacy
The calculations run in your browser. The Your inflation calculator does not send your spending shares to a server or store them in a personal account.
Comparison links include the categories, places and dates you choose. The value-of-money calculator also puts the entered amount in the page address, so it is included when you share or reload that address. The hosting service receives the requested address when a page loads. The Your inflation calculator’s copy-link button leaves your spending shares out. A downloaded chart can include the amounts and results shown on it.
We do not use advertising trackers or analytics scripts in this version of the site. The site is hosted by Vercel, which may process connection information such as your IP address and requested pages to deliver and protect the service. Vercel’s privacy policy explains its handling of information.
Data editions and technical release details
The figures on this site come from specific, deliberately adopted OD Engine releases. These references identify the exact inputs, including separately calculated history. The ABS source figures are accepted as published; missing values are not replaced with estimates.
OD-ECON-CPI-HEADLINE-NATIVE-2026-09-0.1.0· 2026-09
Manifest SHA-256:caf13a1e94c7abae5b819319e86f911757f3a72926a36f3796da5811525f2ca8OD-ECON-CPI-SEPTEMBER-APP-BUNDLE-NATIVE-0.1.0· 2026-09
Manifest SHA-256:475789b5690f41095f4f549c5342249dd3362d79cfce4a18672fc6e5a088e80eOD-ECON-CPI-HISTORICAL-WEIGHTS-REGIME-NATIVE-0.1.0· preserved-ABS-native-supplements-2026-10-16
Manifest SHA-256:f7dc29ee118f3864c5433a1e6388bf52c9635becb4f64a47c60ebd7ef52fddb7OD-ECON-CPI-LEGACY-DISCRETIONARY-QUARTERLY-NATIVE-0.1.0· September-quarter-2025
Manifest SHA-256:b1009448d29c7c46a79f6167e89b14bfa207e79c545807f098930ff433b02d38OD-ECON-CPI-WEIGHTS-MATCHED-NATIVE-0.1.0· 2024-Q4_with_published_historical_vintages
Manifest SHA-256:c6d560e8a52b9530448b3a44f825b591840c6a97eec78b7329577bc294d136f6OD-ECON-CPI-DISCRETIONARY-QUARTERLY-LINKED-0.2.0· 2026-09
Manifest SHA-256:00fcd39e109e8617df0644ecf9c3e206196690613f6e72499cc2880968c3893bOD-ECON-LCI-NATIVE-0.1.0· 2026-Q2
Manifest SHA-256:270a8ff74e4d0b78ff48cece4e999946191bfdeb3fdc494eec86b5d629d63338
The linked quarterly essentials history was adopted on 28 October 2026. It contains 170 calculated index observations across two series, September 2005 to September 2026. Earlier quarterly indices are rescaled to the monthly quarter-average at September 2025; later complete quarters average three published monthly indices. This is an OD Engine calculation from ABS data, rather than an ABS-published quarterly discretionary series. Read the calculation explanation alongside the charts.