The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) measures average price change for a representative basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a Labor Department agency, publishes it monthly. It covers about 93% of the population in urban areas. It excludes rural, farm, military, religious, and institutional households.
Prices come from 80000 items in 75 areas, from 6000 housing units and 23000 establishments. Weights come from Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CE). It tracks 8 major groups. It does not measure personal inflation.
It is only a conditional cost of living gauge. City levels cannot compare price levels. The base equals 100, so 107.000 means a basket costing 100 costs 107.
Prices are collected across the full reference month in 3 periods of about 10 days each. Each item is repriced in its period until it leaves the sample after 4 years. Rent quotes may be collected at any time. The index estimates the whole month.
It is released monthly around the middle of the month after the reference month. Release stays under embargo until 8:30 Eastern Time (ET) on pre-announced dates. Each release includes adjusted and unadjusted tables plus CPI-W and preliminary chained CPI (C-CPI-U). Unadjusted CPI-U is final when released.
Adjusted indexes for the prior 5 years are revised once a year. Readers stress 1-month adjusted and 12-month unadjusted percent changes. The publisher states no target.
Relative importance weights show each group share and are updated once a year. The basket holds 8 major groups, shown below.
A past release showed a 1.3% adjusted monthly rise after 1.0% in the prior month. It showed 9.1% growth over 12 months unadjusted. Energy rose 7.5% for the month and drove nearly half of the rise. Gasoline rose 11.2% adjusted against 9.9% unadjusted.
Gasoline rose 59.9% over 12 months and energy rose 41.6% over 12 months. Food rose 1.0% for the month and 10.4% over 12 months. Food at home rose 12.2% over 12 months. Core, which excludes food and energy, rose 0.7% for the month and 5.9% over 12 months.
Gasoline, shelter, and food led gains. Lodging away from home and airline fares fell while most groups rose.
The prior aggregate of 130.0 implies a 1.54% change. With factor 1.01, the result is 132.0 divided by 1.01, or 130.69.
Key point: The CPI tracks an average basket, not personal inflation. It is only a conditional gauge. City levels cannot compare levels. Some goods, leisure, and subsidies sit outside scope.
