US retail sales rise 0.8% in September; gasoline station sales up 28% from a year ago

US retail and food services sales rose 0.8% in September to $745.0 billion, helped by higher gasoline prices, according to advance estimates from the Census Bureau.

What happened

Sales were up 0.8% (±0.4%) from August and up 6.3% (±0.5%) from September 2025. The Census Bureau revised its estimate of the July-to-August change from up 1.1% to up 1.3%. Total sales for July through September were up 5.5% from the same period a year earlier.

The bureau's figures are adjusted for seasonal variation and for holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes. That matters this month: the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the consumer price index for gasoline rose 9.1% in September, according to its CPI report.

Gasoline and other categories

Sales at gasoline stations rose 6.4% in September and were up 28.1% from a year earlier. Excluding gasoline stations, total retail and food services sales rose 0.2% from August and 4.5% from September 2025. Excluding motor vehicles and parts, sales were up 0.9% on the month and 7.2% on the year.

Among other categories, food services and drinking places rose 1.1% on the month and 7.0% on the year. Furniture and home furnishings stores rose 1.3%, department stores rose 1.6% and electronics and appliance stores rose 0.6%. Miscellaneous store retailers fell 3.0%, building materials and garden equipment dealers fell 0.6%, and sporting goods, hobby, musical instrument and book stores fell 0.5%. Nonstore retailers, a category that includes online sellers, rose 0.3% on the month and 8.2% on the year.

Caveats

The Census Bureau notes that the advance estimates are based on a subsample of about 4,800 firms and that changes whose 90% confidence interval includes zero cannot be distinguished from no change. The bureau also said monthly estimates were revised on September 28 using the results of the 2023 and 2024 Annual Integrated Economic Survey.

What to watch

The October report is scheduled for release on November 17, 2026.