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PRIMERICA HOUSEHOLD BUDGET INDEX™ (HBI™): Rising Gas Prices Limit Purchasing Power of Middle-Income Americans in April
PRIMERICA HOUSEHOLD BUDGET INDEX™ (HBI™): Rising Gas Prices Limit Purchasing Power of Middle-Income Americans in
About this update from Primerica, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"\nThe latest Primerica Household Budget Index™ (HBI™) data, a monthly economic metric that examines how inflation and wage trends impact the ability of middle-income families to afford life’s everyday necessities, is estimated at 99.4% in April, down 1.7% from March and 0.3% from a year ago.\n\nThis press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260527431413/en/The latest Primerica Household Budget Index™ (HBI™) data, a monthly economic metric that examines how inflation and wage trends impact the ability of middle-income families to afford life’s everyday necessities, is estimated at 99.4% in April, down 1.7% from March and 0.3% from a year ago. The decline is driven mainly by increasing gas prices, which rose 11% in the past month and 28% year-over-year.\nThe decline is driven mainly by increasing gas prices, which rose 11% in the past month and 28% year-over-year.\n\n\nThe Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures inflation for a comprehensive basket of goods for all U.S. households, increased 3.8% in April compared to a year ago. Adjusting the CPI to narrow the impact of inflation to focus specifically on middle-income families and their purchase patterns, inflation rose to 4.4% in April 2026 compared to April 2025. The cost of necessity items as used in the HBI™ metric (food, utilities, gas, auto insurance, and health care) for middle-income Americans is up 5.5% from a year ago.\n\n\nAbout the Primerica Household Budget Index™ (HBI™) Data\nThe Primerica Household Budget Index™ (HBI™) data is constructed monthly on behalf of Primerica by its chief economic consultant Amy Crews Cutts, PhD, CBE®. The index measures the purchasing power of middle-income families with household incomes from $30,000 to $130,000 and is developed using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Bureau of Census, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The index looks at the cost of necessities including food, gas, auto insurance, utilities, and health care and earned income to track differences in inflation and wage growth.\n\n\nPrimerica’s HBI™ metric was created to fill an information void around the economy’s impact on middle-income families. Metrics like the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measure overall inflation but don’t offer a clear picture of how it impacts middle-inc...