Jigsaw Puzzle Prices in 2026: The Import Duty Is Zero and the Index Still Moved

Four of the ten Amazon US completions for jigsaw puzzle name a piece count or an adult audience, including jigsaw puzzles 1000 pieces for adults, pulled October 12, 2026. Piece count is how this category prices itself, so the question behind that search is really how much a tier costs and whether it has moved. The answer has two halves that point in opposite directions.

The import duty on a puzzle is zero and has not changed. The federal price index that covers toys has moved, and the policy sitting on top of the duty has moved several times in 2026 alone. We quote no store prices here; everything below is a published index value, a tariff schedule line, a federal notice or a figure from a company filing. We read the BLS series through the agency’s own downloadable time series files and cite the reader-facing series page. Related: toy prices in 2026.

Trend Signal

60/100 Steady momentum

1. Emerging
2. Rising
3. Mainstream
4. Peaking
5. Cooling

A category with a zero duty rate, and an index at a three-year high

The Bureau of Labor Statistics toys index read 29.332 in July 2026, its highest monthly reading since June 2023, and 28.729 in August 2026, up 2.3% year over year. The Harmonized Tariff Schedule Revision 21 of 2026 sets a General duty rate of Free on heading 9503.00.00, which covers puzzles of all kinds.

Our editorial reading of the cited data, not a forecast. How it is scored

By the numbers

• FreeGeneral duty rate on HTS 9503.00.00, which names puzzles of all kinds, Revision 21 of 2026USITC
• 29.332BLS toys index, July 2026, the highest monthly reading since June 2023Bureau of Labor Statistics
• 12.5%Section 301 duty on products of China for entries on or after July 24, 2026USTR
• $17.7MTariff cost Hasbro recognized in cost of sales, first six months of 2026Hasbro Form 10-Q

What it costs to bring a puzzle into the country

Start with the line in the schedule, because it rules out the obvious explanation. Heading 9503.00.00 of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule, Revision 21 of 2026, covers wheeled toys, dolls, other toys, reduced-scale models and puzzles of all kinds, with parts and accessories. Its General rate of duty is Free. The Column 2 rate, which applies only to a short list of countries, is 70%.

So in the ordinary case the most-favored-nation duty on an imported jigsaw puzzle is nothing. Every dollar of tariff cost here comes from action layered on top of that line, and in 2026 that layer changed repeatedly. Retail Dive reports roughly eight in ten toys sold in the US are imported from China, which is why the layer matters more than the base rate.

One more detail in the same chapter matters if you buy for a child. Statistical note 1 says classification in heading 9503 is based on the youngest age for which the product is intended, giving For ages 2–5 as an example of something classified under three years of age. That is a customs convention, not a safety rule, but it shows how a span label is read.

The duty on a puzzle is Free. Whatever moved the price, it was not the tariff schedule itself.

Three decades down, then a turn

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes a consumer price index for toys, series CUUR0000SERE01, US city average, not seasonally adjusted. Its long shape is a collapse: 105.1 in August 2000 against 28.729 in August 2026, a fall of about 73% on our calculation. Toys were the textbook consumer category whose measured prices fell for a generation.

That stopped. The index read 27.804 in January 2026 and 29.332 in July 2026, a rise of about 5.5% across six months, and the July figure is the highest monthly reading since June 2023, when the series stood at 29.817. August 2026 came in at 28.729, up 2.3% against August 2025. The broader item that includes puzzles, Toys, games, hobbies and playground equipment, series CUUR0000SS61011, read 38.422 in August 2026 against 37.946 a year earlier, up 1.3%.

Two cautions. August 2026 was the most recent month published when we pulled the series on October 12, 2026, so nothing here speaks to the fourth quarter. And the index covers toys as a whole rather than puzzles alone, so it is a proxy for this shelf rather than a measurement of it.

Month	BLS toys index	Toys, games, hobbies and playground equipment
Aug 2024	28.060	37.712
Aug 2025	28.089	37.946
Jan 2026	27.804	—
Jun 2026	29.265	—
Jul 2026	29.332	—
Aug 2026	28.729	38.422

The tariff timeline that moved under the shelf

Mattel’s quarterly report for the period ended June 30, 2026 lays out the sequence as a calendar. In February 2026 the Supreme Court ruled that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unauthorized; Hasbro dates that ruling to February 20, 2026 and the enactment it struck down to April 2, 2025. On March 4, 2026 the Court of International Trade ordered Customs and Border Protection to process refunds, then immediately suspended the order while CBP built a refund process. CBP launched Phase 1 on April 20, 2026 and Phase 2 on June 29, 2026, and the order has been appealed.

What replaced them did not last either. Mattel reports temporary global tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which expired on July 24, 2026, and that in May 2026 the Court of International Trade ruled those unauthorized as well, stayed pending appeal. In July 2026 additional Section 301 tariffs were imposed, themselves under legal challenge. That notice, published July 28, 2026, set Section 301 duties of 10% or 12.5% on products of 60 economies after investigations into the failure to prohibit imports of goods produced with forced labor, with 12.5% for products of China except as its annexes provide, for entries on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern time on July 24, 2026.

The cost shows up in filings rather than on a shelf tag. Hasbro recognized about $9.4 million of tariff cost in cost of sales in the second quarter of 2026 and $17.7 million over six months, and made its first CBP refund application in the third quarter of 2026. Mattel’s gross margin fell to 48.2% in the second quarter of 2026 from 50.9% a year earlier, which it attributes to the gross incremental cost of tariffs, inflation, higher royalties and unfavorable foreign exchange. In July 2026 two putative class actions were filed in the Central District of California against Mattel and American Girl, alleging they should not retain IEEPA refunds if those costs were passed on to consumers.

Three statutes, one Supreme Court ruling and two court orders in eight months. The duty line never changed.

What it means for the tier you buy

Circana’s figures give the demand side of the same question. US toy dollar sales rose 17% from January through June 2026, units rose 12% and average selling price rose 4%; games and puzzles rose 45%, behind only explorative and other toys at 58% among the supercategories Circana named. An average selling price rising more slowly than units is a category selling more things rather than dearer things, which is the opposite of what a tariff pass-through alone would look like.

For a buyer, piece count and finished size rather than the import duty decide what a puzzle costs, and the published index has turned up from a long decline rather than spiked. Because the latest BLS month available on October 12, 2026 was August, proof of a holiday-quarter move will not exist until those months publish.

At the 1,000-piece tier the thing worth comparing is what you get for it: makers publish finished sizes that differ by several inches at the same count, which is a different quantity of cardboard. And a puzzle bought for a young child still goes through the toy rules we cover in the 2026 learning toy recalls.

What to watch next

• September and later 2026 readings of BLS series CUUR0000SERE01, after a July 2026 figure of 29.332
• Whether the appeals on the Section 122 and Section 301 actions change the layer sitting above a Free duty rate
• Hasbro and Mattel disclosures on tariff cost and CBP refunds in their next quarterly filings

Where to start

Paid links: we earn a commission if you buy through the buttons below, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

More: Collectibles and Toys trends and how the Trend Signal is scored.

Questions readers ask

What is the import duty on a jigsaw puzzle?

The General rate of duty on Harmonized Tariff Schedule heading 9503.00.00, which names puzzles of all kinds, is Free in Revision 21 of 2026. The Column 2 rate, which applies only to a short list of countries, is 70%. Any tariff cost on a puzzle therefore comes from separate action layered on top of that line.

Have toy prices actually gone up in 2026?

The BLS consumer price index for toys, series CUUR0000SERE01, read 28.729 in August 2026 against 28.089 in August 2025, up 2.3%. July 2026 read 29.332, the highest monthly reading since June 2023. August 2026 was the most recent month published when we read the series on October 12, 2026.

What happened to the tariffs that were imposed in 2025?

Mattel reports that in February 2026 the Supreme Court ruled tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unauthorized, and Hasbro dates that ruling to February 20, 2026. The Court of International Trade ordered refunds on March 4, 2026 and suspended the order; Customs and Border Protection launched refund Phase 1 on April 20, 2026 and Phase 2 on June 29, 2026, and the order has been appealed.

Do more pieces always mean a bigger puzzle?

No. At 1,000 pieces, published finished sizes differ between makers: Cobble Hill lists an assembled size of 19.25 by 26.625 inches, Buffalo Games lists 26.75 by 19.75 inches, Galison lists a standard 20 by 27 inches, and White Mountain lists 24 by 30 inches, all read October 12, 2026. Piece size absorbs the difference.