The cheapest month to buy shoes
Shoe prices in the official index rise and fall with the seasons. Here is the typical shape of a year for each kind of shoe, measured against each year’s own trend.
Lowest: −1.8% vs trend. Highest: February (+0.8%). Spread 2.6 points.
Lowest: −1.9% vs trend. Highest: October (+1.6%). Spread 3.4 points.
Lowest: −1.5% vs trend. Highest: October (+1.7%). Spread 3.2 points.
Lowest: −1.5% vs trend. Highest: October (+1.3%). Spread 2.8 points.
On a $100 pair at trend price, the typical all-footwear gap between December and October is $2.84. Women’s shoes swing the most (3.4 points); men’s shoes the least (2.6 points). These are averages across many stores and years, not a promise about any one store or sale.
Men’s shoes
- January −0.40% 11 years averaged
- February +0.78% 11 years averaged
- March +0.65% 11 years averaged
- April +0.46% 10 years averaged
- May +0.11% 10 years averaged
- June −0.48% 10 years averaged
- July −0.72% 10 years averaged
- August +0.08% 10 years averaged
- September +0.67% 10 years averaged
- October +0.61% 10 years averaged
- November +0.07% 10 years averaged
- December −1.83% 10 years averaged
Women’s shoes
- January −1.89% 11 years averaged
- February +0.25% 11 years averaged
- March +1.37% 11 years averaged
- April +0.77% 10 years averaged
- May +0.13% 10 years averaged
- June −0.43% 10 years averaged
- July −1.41% 10 years averaged
- August −0.00% 10 years averaged
- September +1.53% 10 years averaged
- October +1.55% 10 years averaged
- November −0.16% 10 years averaged
- December −1.70% 10 years averaged
Boys’ and girls’ shoes
- January −1.45% 11 years averaged
- February −0.50% 11 years averaged
- March +0.70% 11 years averaged
- April +0.87% 10 years averaged
- May +0.09% 10 years averaged
- June −0.93% 10 years averaged
- July −1.00% 10 years averaged
- August −0.21% 10 years averaged
- September +0.72% 10 years averaged
- October +1.75% 10 years averaged
- November +0.76% 10 years averaged
- December −0.80% 10 years averaged
All footwear
- January −1.30% 11 years averaged
- February +0.23% 11 years averaged
- March +0.97% 11 years averaged
- April +0.68% 10 years averaged
- May +0.10% 10 years averaged
- June −0.56% 10 years averaged
- July −1.08% 10 years averaged
- August −0.01% 10 years averaged
- September +1.07% 10 years averaged
- October +1.30% 10 years averaged
- November +0.13% 10 years averaged
- December −1.54% 10 years averaged
How this is measured
For every month from 2015 to 2025 we divide the unadjusted BLS index by its centered 12-month moving average, which removes the year’s general trend. We then average those ratios for each calendar month and center them so the twelve months average zero. Months whose 13-month window touches October 2025, when BLS collected no prices because of the federal shutdown, are left out, which is why some months average fewer years. We compute this ourselves rather than reading BLS’s seasonally adjusted series, because BLS publishes some footwear series without seasonal adjustment in some years. Full method
Planning a purchase around these numbers? Check how prices moved over the year in the year-by-year pages, or price an old pair in the calculator.