Gasoline accounted for more than half of September’s U.S. consumer price increase, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said, a backdrop to Vice President JD Vance’s acknowledgment of high pump prices.
The gasoline index rose 9.1% in September. Overall, the seasonally adjusted consumer price index increased 0.6% from August. The unadjusted index was 3.7% higher than a year earlier.
For motorists, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported an average regular gasoline price of $4.284 per gallon for Oct. 19, down from $4.331 for Oct. 12.
At a CBS News town hall recorded Oct. 15 in Flat Rock, Michigan, and aired Oct. 17, Vance said, “I recognize that gas prices are too high right now.” He attributed elevated fuel prices to disruption in Middle East shipping and said new investment would take time to produce factory jobs.
In a separate answer about the broader economy and President Donald Trump’s assessment of it, Vance said the administration needed to do more. He said turning the economy around would take longer than the administration’s first 18 months, a timeline discussed in earlier coverage of his economic remarks.
Trump’s “hoax” remark came nearly a year before Vance’s town hall. At a Dec. 2, 2025, Cabinet meeting, Trump used the term for Democrats’ affordability message while blaming them for high prices. On Dec. 9, he agreed that prices were too high and said he could not call affordability a hoax.
Other figures showed weaker consumer confidence and a high mortgage rate. The Conference Board’s confidence index fell to 81.9 in September from 88.6 in August; its preliminary survey ran from Sept. 1 to Sept. 23. Freddie Mac reported an average 7.40% rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage as of Oct. 15, unchanged from the previous week.
The Conference Board is scheduled to release its next confidence reading on Oct. 27 at 10 a.m. ET (14:00 UTC). The BLS is due to release October’s consumer price index on Nov. 10 at 8:30 a.m. ET (13:30 UTC).
