The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria inched up 0.1 percent from July to September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the recent increase was due entirely to a 0.5-percent rise in the all items less food and energy index. The energy index and the food index decreased since July, down 4.1 and 0.3 percent, respectively. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 0.9 percent, reflecting a 0.8-percent increase in the all items less food and energy index. (See chart 1 and table A.) Since September 2018, the food index and energy index also advanced, up 2.0 and 0.2 percent, respectively. (See table 1.)

Food

Following a 0.6-percent decline from May to July, the food index edged down 0.3 percent over the last two months. Prices for food at home decreased 0.5 percent. Within the food at home component, prices were lower for frozen and freeze dried prepared foods; while prices were higher for eggs and citrus fruits. Food away from home prices decreased over the last two months, down 0.1 percent.

Food prices increased 2.0 percent over the year. Prices were higher for both food at home (2.2 percent) and food away from home (1.8 percent) since September 2018.

Energy

Since July, the energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, declined 4.1 percent, due to lower prices for gasoline (-7.2 percent) and for utility (piped) gas service (-10.4 percent). Prices were higher for electricity (2.3 percent) over the past two months.

Energy prices edged up 0.2 percent since September 2018, due to higher prices for utility (piped) gas service (90.2 percent). Prices for electricity also increased over the year, up 1.4 percent, while gasoline prices declined 10.3 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5 percent since July. The advance was led by higher prices for shelter (1.2 percent); apparel (6.1 percent) and education and communication (1.3 percent) were among the indexes that had increases over the last two months. Decreased prices for household furnishings and operations (-3.1 percent), among others, moderated the rise in the all items less food and energy index from July to September.

Since September 2018, the index for all items less food and energy rose 0.8 percent. Prices were higher for shelter (1.0 percent), medical care (3.2 percent), and household furnishings and operations (5.4 percent), among others. Apparel and education and communication prices decreased 6.3 and 2.4 percent, respectively, since September 2018.

Table A. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2015		2016		2017		2018		2019
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
January	-1.1	-0.2	-0.2	1.5	0.2	1.5	0.9	2.2	0.5	0.8
March	1.2	0.2	0.8	1.1	0.4	1.1	-0.1	1.8	0.7	1.6
May	0.7	0.6	0.8	1.2	0.0	0.3	0.7	2.5	0.6	1.6
July	-0.3	0.3	-0.2	1.3	0.0	0.5	0.1	2.5	-0.3	1.2
September	0.6	0.7	-0.3	0.5	0.9	1.7	0.4	2.0	0.1	0.9
November	-0.4	0.5	0.2	1.1	0.0	1.5	-0.7	1.3

The Consumer Price Index for November 2019 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, December 11, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria is published bi-monthly. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 94 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 28 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 75 urban areas across the country from about 5,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 retail establishments--department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch17.pdf.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. Note: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MA-WV, Core Based Statistical Area includes the District of Columbia; the counties of Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George’s in Maryland; the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park and the counties of Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren in Virginia; and the county of Jefferson in West Virginia.

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