Boys’ and girls’ shoes price history since 1978
What boys’ and girls’ shoes cost Americans from 1978 to September 2026, measured by the official consumer price index, set against overall inflation and the factory.
September 2026 vs a year earlier. Higher than 37% of all 572 twelve-month changes in the series.
With overall inflation it would be $516.52. Shoes rose 1.6% a year, everything 3.5%.
Boys’ and girls’ shoes relative to all consumer prices, 2026 year to date vs 2000.
1.5% below trend on average, 2015–2025. Priciest: October (+1.7%).
Boys’ and girls’ shoes vs overall inflation, 1978 = 100
- Boys’ and girls’ shoes
- All items (overall inflation)
What the numbers say
From 1978 to 2025 the boys’ and girls’ shoes index rose 109.8%, while the all-items index rose 393.5%. Put another way, a pair that tracked the index cost $2.10 in 2025 for every dollar it cost in 1978, while the average basket of goods and services cost $4.94. The highest annual average so far was in 2023.
Among the three groups BLS publishes since 1978 (men’s, women’s, and boys’ and girls’), boys’ and girls’ shoes rank 1st for total price growth from 1978 to 2025. Men’s shoes rose 97.3%; Women’s shoes rose 62.6%.
The largest one-year increases were in 1980 (+10.5%), 1979 (+8.1%), 2022 (+5.8%); the largest declines in 2002 (−3.6%), 2000 (−3.5%), 2020 (−3.0%). 27.7% of years since 1979 ended with lower average prices than the year before.
Boys’ and girls’ shoes, monthly index since 2022
- Boys’ and girls’ shoes (not seasonally adjusted)
Decade checkpoints
- 1980$180.41$100 then, at September 2026 prices · index 93.0 · overall inflation would give $408.87
- 1990$139.72$100 then, at September 2026 prices · index 120.0 · overall inflation would give $257.88
- 2000$136.08$100 then, at September 2026 prices · index 123.2 · overall inflation would give $195.67
- 2010$126.47$100 then, at September 2026 prices · index 132.6 · overall inflation would give $154.52
- 2020$110.26$100 then, at September 2026 prices · index 152.1 · overall inflation would give $130.19
- 2025$102.67$100 then, at September 2026 prices · index 163.4 · overall inflation would give $104.66
At the factory gate
BLS does not publish a separate producer price index for children’s shoes. The closest import measure, the import price index for footwear, changed +21.2% from 2000 to 2025, against +30.1% for boys’ and girls’ shoes in stores. Import prices →
Seasonal swing
On a typical year (2015–2025), prices run 1.5% under trend in January and 1.7% over it in October, a spread of 3.2 points. Month-by-month table →
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, series CUUR0000SEAE02 (1982–84 = 100), retrieved nightly. Index numbers track price change, not price levels: an index of 150 for men’s shoes and 130 for women’s does not mean men’s shoes cost more. How we calculate