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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Transportation Producer Price Index – February 2026

Wednesday, March 18, 2026

Today, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) released the change in the costs faced by producers purchasing transportation services and industries producing them, from February 2025 to February 2026, as measured by the Producer Price Index (PPI). The PPI measures inflation from the perspective of costs to industry or producers of products.

Transportation equipment PPI indicate the changes in transportation equipment prices faced by transportation providers, and any increase, increases providers costs. The PPI shows that prices increased for freight transportation and equipment 2.2% in February 2026 from February 2025.

The figure is a line graph showing the producer price index (PPI) for five freight transportation services compared to all services by month from January 2019 to February 2026. Each of the five freight transportation services PPI (arrangement of freight and cargo, truck, air, water, and rail) are a line in the graph. The x-axis shows the month. The y-axis shows the index value, not seasonally adjusted, with January 2019 equal to 100. The PPI for all freight transportation modes, except water and rail, increased from January 2019 to mid-2022, then declined. In contrast the water and rail transportation PPI continued to trend upward, more closely mirroring the steady upward rise in the all (transportation and non-transportation) services PPI. In February 2026, the arrangement of freight and cargo PPI was 32.0% above January 2019 and 33.3% below the high in February 2022. In February 2026, the truck PPI was 26.3% above January 2019 and 26.8% below the high in May 2022. In February 2026, the air PPI was 10.8% above January 2019 and 16.8% below the high in June 2022. In February 2026, the water PPI was 47.6% above January 2019 and 17.1% below the high in February 2025. In February 2026, the rail PPI was 23.6% above January 2019 and 21.4% below the high in February 2026. In February 2026, the all (transportation and non-transportation) services PPI was 32.1% above January 2019 and 16.9% below the high in February 2026.

Increases in transportation services PPI indicate increases in production costs faced by industries purchasing the services. From February 2025 to February 2026, the transportation services PPI changed, by mode, as compared to all transportation and non-transportation services:

  • Air: +2.2%
  • Rail: +0.5%
  • Truck: +3.1%
  • Water: -0.2%
  • Arrangement of freight and cargo: -0.4%
  • All services (transportation and non-transportation): +3.7

Transportation contributed 9.0% to the overall increase in costs faced by producers for transportation and non-transportation services.

For additional information and for interactive charts on transportation's role in the economy and changes (trends) over time, please visit BTS’ Transportation Economic Trends.