Construction material price index
What the materials in our calculators are actually doing, month by month. These are Producer Price Indexes published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — not our estimates.
Latest reading: July 2026. Source: BLS Producer Price Index.
| Index | Latest | Year on year |
|---|---|---|
| Lumber and wood products The headline index for framing and decking timber. · BLS series WPU081 | 291.0 | +10.1% |
| Softwood lumber Pressure-treated joists, beams, posts and most decking. · BLS series WPU0811 | 300.6 | +15% |
| Hardwood lumber Hardwood decking and trim. · BLS series WPU0812 | 289.1 | +3.3% |
| Wood structural panels Sheathing and subfloor panels. · BLS series WPU083 | 295.2 | +9.2% |
| Softwood plywood Plywood sheathing. · BLS series WPU0831 | 328.9 | +10% |
| Concrete ingredients and related Cement and aggregate feeding footing costs. · BLS series WPU133 | 407.0 | +3.7% |
| Concrete products Bagged mix and precast products. · BLS series WPU1332 | 399.7 | +1.5% |
| Iron and steel The base metal behind hangers and fasteners. · BLS series WPU101 | 374.1 | +17.6% |
| Steel mill products Structural connectors and hardware. · BLS series WPU1017 | 374.2 | +22.5% |
| Fabricated structural metal Joist hangers, post bases and brackets. · BLS series WPU102501 | 387.8 | +40.5% |
| Paints and coatings Stains and sealers for wood decks. · BLS series WPU0623 | 423.0 | +0.6% |
| Gypsum products Drywall — tracked ahead of the interior calculators. · BLS series WPU137 | 481.6 | -0.4% |
| Gypsum building materials Board, compound and related products. · BLS series WPU1371 | 481.6 | -0.4% |
How to read this
A Producer Price Index measures what producers receive for their output, indexed against a base period. The absolute number is not a dollar price — it is a level. What matters is the direction and the size of the move.
Year-on-year change compares the latest month against the same month a year earlier, which strips out the seasonal swing that makes month-to-month comparisons misleading in construction.
Why we publish it
Our calculators tell you how much material a project needs. That quantity does not change when the market does — a 16 by 12 deck needs the same 29 boards whatever lumber costs. What changes is the bill. Tracking these indexes is how we keep the cost side of the site honest instead of quoting a national average from two years ago.
It is also the part most estimating sites skip. Prices published once and never revisited are worse than no prices at all, because they look current.
What this does not tell you
These are national producer indexes. They do not capture what your local yard charges, regional freight, contractor markup, or the difference between a big-box shelf price and a trade account. Treat them as the direction of travel, not a quote.
Updates
The BLS publishes monthly. We refresh shortly after each release and keep the history, so the year-on-year comparison is calculated from data we actually hold rather than estimated. Method and sources are on our methodology page.