Airfares are up 22.4% from a year ago. That is the number driving travel costs, and it runs well ahead of the 3.7% rise in overall US prices for the 12 months through September 2026.
NerdWallet’s Travel Price Index, built from Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price data on airfares, lodging, meals and rental cars, shows average travel costs 9% higher than a year earlier. The same 9% rate showed up in each of the past two months. Against September 2019, the last full pre-pandemic comparison month, travel costs are up 22%. All items together are up 31.1% over that stretch, so travel has actually lagged the general climb.
Flights
Over ten years, airfares are up 18.1%, against 39.4% for all items tracked by the BLS. But the gap is closing fast. In January 2026, fares were 2.6% below their level of a decade earlier.
NerdWallet notes that the data misses the extras, such as fees to check a bag, pick an aisle seat or board early, which still hit travel budgets. It also points to Spirit Airlines’ abrupt shutdown in May 2026. With less competition, airlines have more pricing power. Airline chief executives have said fares have not kept pace with overall inflation since the pandemic, a sign that prices will stay high.
Rooms, cars and meals
Hotel and motel rates are up 4.3% on the year and 17.4% over a decade. Rental cars cost 9.1% more than last year; they have come down from the pandemic-era highs but remain well above where they were before. Anyone planning a long road trip also has to account for the price of gas.
Food away from home rose 3.5% year over year, and it is 51% higher than ten years ago, a faster climb than the 39.4% for all items. Entertainment is up just 2.5%. Tickets for movies, theater and concerts are rising more slowly than average, which NerdWallet reads as a sign households may be shifting their budgets.
One caveat on timing: the figures cover September 2026 but were published in October, so they lag the current market by a month. Because the 2025 government shutdown blocked collection of October 2025 data, NerdWallet used September 2025 for any comparison that would have involved that month.
