Consumer Price Index, January 2026
Released: 2026-02-17
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.3% on a year-over-year basis in January, following a 2.4% increase in December.
Chart 1
The 12-month change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and CPI excluding the effect of indirect taxes
Chart 2
Three major components drive the deceleration in all-items CPI
The gasoline price index was the largest contributor to deceleration in headline inflation, with a larger decline in January compared with December. Excluding gasoline, the CPI rose 3.0% in January, matching the increase in December.
Indexes with year-over-year movements impacted by the temporary GST/HST break in January 2025 continued to put upward pressure on the year-over-year all-items increase in January 2026. Of the affected indexes, the CPI continued to be most impacted by acceleration in prices for restaurant meals, and to a lesser degree, prices for alcoholic beverages, toys and children's clothing.
Excluding food and energy, the CPI rose 2.4% year over year in January, following a 2.5% increase in December.
The GST/HST break
The prices included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) are final prices, inclusive of all excise and other taxes paid by consumers. In particular, prices include the Goods and Services Tax (GST), provincial retail sales taxes (PST) or the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST), as well as any environmental, liquor and tobacco taxes if applicable. This means that the CPI can change as a result of changes in any of these taxes.
The tax exemption began on December 14, 2024, and ended on February 15, 2025, affecting approximately 10% of the CPI basket.
The CPI was unchanged month over month in January. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, the CPI increased 0.1%.
Consumers pay less for gasoline year over year in January
Prices at the pump fell 16.7% year over year in January, after a 13.8% decline in December. The larger year-over-year decline was mainly due to a base-year effect. The index rose 0.5% month over month in January 2026, compared with a 4.0% increase in January 2025, when crude oil prices rose. Additionally, the partial reintroduction of the provincial gas tax in Manitoba in January 2025 is no longer impacting the 12-month movement.
Infographic 1
Prices for gasoline decline more year over year in January than in December
Impact from last year's GST/HST break
For food purchased from restaurants, prices were higher in January 2026 (+12.3%) compared with January 2025, when prices were lower as a result of the GST/HST break.
Similarly, prices rose on a year-over-year basis for other previously tax-exempted goods in January 2026, including alcoholic beverages purchased from stores (+7.9%), alcoholic beverages served in licensed establishments (+9.0%), toys, games (excluding video games) and hobby supplies (+8.7%) and children's clothing (+6.3%).
Chart 3
Price growth acceleration among previously tax-exempt goods and services
Cellular service prices put downward pressure on the Consumer Price Index
Year over year, prices for cellular services decelerated in January (+4.9%) compared with December (+14.6%) due to a base-year effect, following six consecutive months of upward pressure. On a month-over-month basis, prices declined in January 2026 (-0.8%) after increasing in January 2025 (+8.3%).
Fresh fruit prices decline year over year
Prices for food purchased from stores rose 4.8% year over year in January following a 5.0% increase in December. The slower price growth was mainly driven by a decline in fresh fruit prices (-3.1%) in January, after a 4.5% increase in December. Amid generally strong or stable harvests in producer regions, the largest contributors to downward pressure on prices were berries, oranges and melons.
Shelter costs continue to grow at a slower pace
Since early 2024, growth in shelter costs has slowed year over year. In January 2026, prices continued to decelerate, rising 1.7%. This is the first time in nearly five years that year-over-year shelter price growth has fallen below 2.0%. Slower price growth for rent and mortgage interest cost drove the deceleration.
Rent prices rose at a slower pace year over year in January (+4.3%) than in December (+4.9%). Rent prices decelerated the most in Prince Edward Island (+0.2%) and Saskatchewan (+1.8%).
The mortgage interest cost index rose 1.2% year over year in January, following a 1.7% increase in December. This index has been decelerating since September 2023.
Chart 4
Continued downward trend in shelter price growth
Explore the Consumer Price Index tools
Check out the Personal Inflation Calculator. This interactive calculator allows you to enter dollar amounts in the common expense categories to produce a personalized inflation rate, which you can compare with the official measure of inflation for the average Canadian household—the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Browse the Consumer Price Index Data Visualization Tool to access current (Latest Snapshot of the CPI) and historical (Price trends: 1914 to today) CPI data in a customizable visual format.
Regional highlights
On an annual basis in January, prices rose at a slower pace in nine provinces compared with December. Year-over-year price growth accelerated in British Columbia due to a base-year effect, as prices for hotels declined on a monthly basis in January 2025 following an increase in December 2024 coinciding with a series of high-profile concerts in Vancouver.
Chart 5
The Consumer Price Index increases at a slower pace in all but one province
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Note to readers
Visit the Consumer Price Index portal to find all Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, publications, interactive tools and announcements highlighting new products and upcoming changes to the CPI in one convenient location.
Change to the Revision Policy for CPI-Median and CPI-Trim
With today's release of the Consumer Price Index, Statistics Canada implemented an updated revision policy for two core inflation measures, CPI-median and CPI-trim (table 18-10-0256-01). This update ensures greater alignment with international best practices and other major Canadian economic indicators.
CPI-median and CPI-trim are calculated using seasonally adjusted consumer price data. Previously, CPI-median and CPI-trim were revised over a seven-year historical period with each release. With this release onwards, revisions will extend back three years, on an annual basis, with each January release, while for all other months, CPI-median and CPI-trim will be revised for one historical month. This approach aligns with the revision policy for seasonally adjusted data available in table 18-10-0006-01.
The underlying model parameters used to calculate the seasonally adjusted data used to produce CPI-median and CPI-trim will remain unchanged, as will the revision policy for CPI-common, which is not based on seasonally adjusted data.
For additional information, users may contact the Consumer Prices Division (statcan.cpddisseminationunit-dpcunitedediffusion.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
Real-time data tables
Real-time data table 18-10-0259-01 will be updated on March 2. For more information, consult the document, "Real-time data tables."
Next release
The Consumer Price Index for February will be released on Monday, March 16.
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 (62-553-X).
For information on the history of the CPI in Canada, consult the publication Exploring the first century of Canada's Consumer Price Index (62-604-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).
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