The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index Year-over-Year (YoY) measures the change in prices for all domestic personal consumption over a 12-month period. It serves as a broad indicator of inflation trends within the economy, including all categories of household spending. This metric is used by policymakers to assess the long-term trajectory of purchasing power. It is often compared with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to identify differences in inflationary trends.
The YoY percentage change is derived by comparing the current month's price index to the index value from exactly one year prior. It is based on a comprehensive set of data covering all goods and services purchased by households.
The PCE-based Super Core — services excluding energy and housing — isolates underlying inflation. Then-Fed Chair Jerome Powell made it his preferred read on whether the inflation problem is structural or transitory. Because the FOMC explicitly targets PCE and not CPI, this series remains the cleanest version of that question.
