When Is the Next PCE Report? 2026 Release Dates

The PCE report, formally titled Personal Income and Outlays, is published monthly by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). It contains the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the inflation gauge the Federal Reserve uses for its 2% target, alongside data on personal income, consumer spending and the household saving rate. Because the Fed sets interest rates with this index in mind, every release is watched closely by bond markets, currency traders and anyone with a mortgage or savings account.

PCE Release Schedule 2026

The BEA publishes 13 Personal Income and Outlays releases in 2026 rather than the usual 12. The October to November 2025 federal government shutdown delayed several reports, so the January 22 release covered two data months at once and the early-year calendar was compressed to catch up. All dates below are confirmed on the official BEA release schedule.

The BEA has not yet published its 2027 release calendar. This page is updated when new dates are confirmed and after each release, so the schedule above always reflects the latest official information.

What Time Is PCE Released?

The PCE report is released at 8:30am Eastern Time, the standard slot for major US economic data. For readers outside the United States, that is usually 1:30pm in London, 2:30pm in Frankfurt and Paris, 9:30pm in Tokyo and 10:30pm in Sydney. For roughly 2 weeks each spring and autumn, when US and European clock changes fall out of step, the London time shifts temporarily to 12:30pm. The data hits newswires, the BEA website and trading terminals simultaneously, and market reaction in Treasury futures and the dollar is typically visible within seconds.

What Is PCE Inflation?

PCE inflation is measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, produced by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, an agency of the US Department of Commerce. The index tracks the prices of goods and services consumed by households across the entire US economy, from groceries and petrol to healthcare, housing and financial services. It is published as part of the monthly Personal Income and Outlays release, which also reports how much Americans earned, spent and saved during the month.

The release contains 2 headline inflation figures. Headline PCE covers everything households consume. Core PCE strips out food and energy, the 2 most volatile categories, to reveal the underlying inflation trend. Both are reported as a monthly change and as a year-over-year change, and the annual core figure is the single number Federal Reserve officials reference most often when discussing whether inflation is on track.

The Federal Reserve formally adopted the PCE price index as the benchmark for its inflation target in January 2012, when it announced a 2% longer-run goal for headline PCE. The choice was deliberate: PCE captures a broader slice of consumption than the better-known Consumer Price Index, including spending made on behalf of households, such as medical care paid by employers and government programmes. It also adapts more quickly when consumers change what they buy.

Because the PCE index feeds directly into the calculation of real GDP and real consumer spending, it is revised as better source data arrives. That makes it slightly less timely than CPI, which is published around 2 weeks earlier each month, but more accurate over time. Economists treat PCE as the definitive record of US consumer inflation, while CPI serves as the early estimate that markets trade first.

PCE vs CPI: What’s the Difference?

PCE and CPI both measure US consumer inflation, but they differ in 4 important ways, and the gap between them matters because the Fed targets PCE while most headlines, wage negotiations and inflation-linked contracts reference CPI.

Scope. CPI, produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, measures out-of-pocket spending by urban consumers. PCE measures all consumption attributed to households nationwide, including items paid for on their behalf. The clearest example is healthcare: CPI only counts what consumers pay directly, while PCE includes the much larger amounts paid by employer insurance schemes, Medicare and Medicaid. As a result, healthcare carries roughly twice the weight in PCE that it does in CPI.

Weights. CPI weights come from consumer expenditure surveys and are updated annually. PCE weights come from business sales data and the national accounts, and they update every month. Housing is the biggest practical difference: shelter makes up around a third of CPI but only around 15% of PCE. When rents are rising quickly, as they did through 2022 to 2024, CPI runs noticeably hotter than PCE for that reason alone.

The substitution effect. PCE uses a chained formula that captures how shoppers respond to prices. If beef gets expensive and households switch to chicken, PCE reflects that swap in the same month. CPI’s formula largely assumes people keep buying the same basket, so it overstates the cost of living for anyone who adjusts their shopping. This formula effect alone trims roughly 0.2 to 0.3 percentage points off PCE relative to CPI in a typical year.

Revisions. CPI is essentially final on publication. PCE is revised in subsequent months and in annual benchmark updates, which makes it less convenient for indexing contracts but more reliable as an economic record.

Put together, these differences mean PCE usually runs around 0.3 to 0.5 percentage points cooler than CPI. In April 2026, for example, CPI-based inflation ran above the 3.8% headline PCE reading. Traders use the spread to translate each month’s CPI print into a PCE forecast before the BEA report lands.

What PCE Means for Your Money

PCE is the inflation number the Federal Reserve actually targets, which makes it the most consequential inflation report for borrowing and saving costs worldwide. When core PCE runs above 2%, as it has throughout 2025 and 2026, the Fed faces pressure to keep interest rates higher for longer. That feeds directly into US mortgage rates, credit card APRs, car loans and business borrowing costs, and indirectly into global bond yields and currency markets. When PCE cools towards 2%, rate cuts come back onto the table, which tends to lower borrowing costs but also trims the interest paid on savings accounts and money market funds.

The release is also the best monthly snapshot of American household finances. The personal income figures show whether wages, salaries and investment income are keeping ahead of prices. The spending data show whether consumers, who drive roughly two thirds of the US economy, are still opening their wallets. The personal saving rate, which stood at 3.6% in March 2026, signals how much cushion households have left. A low saving rate combined with rising inflation, the pattern visible through spring 2026, suggests households are stretching to maintain spending, a warning sign for the consumer economy.

How Markets React to PCE

PCE has an unusual market profile: it is the most important inflation measure but rarely the most market-moving release. The reason is timing. CPI for the same data month is published roughly 2 weeks earlier, and PPI shortly after that. Economists feed the components of both into models that predict PCE with considerable accuracy, so by release day the consensus forecast is usually tight and the number often lands within 0.1 percentage points of expectations. Markets price the information when CPI prints, not when PCE confirms it.

When PCE does surprise, the reaction can be sharp precisely because positioning assumes it will not. An upside surprise on core PCE pushes Treasury yields and the US dollar higher and equities lower, as traders price a more hawkish Fed. A downside surprise does the reverse. Surprises most often come from the categories where CPI and PCE diverge, particularly healthcare, financial services and airfares, which are measured from different source data. The April 2026 report, showing headline PCE accelerating to 3.8%, the highest since May 2023, reinforced the repricing of rate cut expectations even though the direction had been flagged by CPI.

Release timing also amplifies or mutes the reaction. PCE reports landing in the blackout period before a Federal Open Market Committee meeting, such as the July 30, 2026 release ahead of the September FOMC, carry extra weight because they are among the last inflation data points officials see before deciding on rates.

Recent PCE Readings

The table below shows headline and core PCE inflation for the last 16 data months, as reported by the BEA at the time of each release. The 2026 acceleration is clear: after holding in the high 2s through 2025, headline PCE jumped to 3.5% in March 2026 and 3.8% in April 2026 as tariff-related goods price rises fed through to consumers.

Core PCE has now spent more than 5 years above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. The April 2026 headline reading of 3.8% is nearly double the target and the highest in 3 years, which explains why markets have pushed expected rate cuts further into the future. Figures reflect initial BEA estimates and may differ slightly from revised data.

Related Economic Events

PCE sits within a cluster of US releases that together set the interest rate outlook.

• FOMC Meetings: the Federal Reserve’s 8 rate decisions per year are where PCE data translates into actual policy.
• US CPI Report: the earlier inflation read each month, published by the BLS around 2 weeks before PCE and usually the bigger market mover.
• US GDP Report: the PCE price index is built from the same national accounts framework and is published alongside quarterly GDP estimates.

Frequently Asked Questions

What time is the PCE report released?

8:30am Eastern Time, which is usually 1:30pm in London and 2:30pm in central Europe. Occasional catch-up releases, such as the shutdown-delayed January 22, 2026 report, have been published at 10:00am ET instead.

What is core PCE?

Core PCE is the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index excluding food and energy. Stripping out those volatile categories gives a cleaner view of underlying inflation, which is why Federal Reserve officials cite core PCE more often than the headline figure. Core PCE rose 3.3% year over year in April 2026.

Why does the Fed prefer PCE over CPI?

Three main reasons: PCE covers a broader range of consumption, including spending made on behalf of households such as employer-paid healthcare; its chained formula captures consumers substituting between products when prices change; and it is revised as better data arrives, making it more accurate over time. The Fed formally adopted a 2% PCE target in January 2012.

What is the current PCE inflation rate?

As of the most recent release on May 28, 2026, headline PCE inflation was 3.8% year over year for April 2026, the highest since May 2023. Core PCE was 3.3%. Both remain well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

When is the next inflation report?

The next US inflation data point is the CPI report on June 10, 2026, covering May data. The next PCE report follows on June 25, 2026, also covering May. PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure, but CPI arrives first each month.

What else is in the Personal Income and Outlays release?

Beyond the PCE price index, the release reports personal income (wages, investment income and government benefits), disposable personal income after tax, personal consumption expenditures in dollar terms, and the personal saving rate. Together these show whether US household finances are strengthening or deteriorating.

Sources: US Bureau of Economic Analysis, official release schedule and monthly Personal Income and Outlays releases. Schedule and data verified June 7, 2026.