Prices in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.5 percent for the two months ending in November 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index advanced 0.9 percent in October and November, largely due to an increase in the index for shelter. The energy index fell 3.6 percent, while the food index decreased 0.7 percent over the past two months. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 6.9 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 6.7 percent over the year, while food prices advanced 9.7 percent. Energy prices increased 4.1 percent, mainly driven by a decline in the index for gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, November 2019–November 2022

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Nov 2019	2.8	3.0
Jan 2020	3.8	3.6
Mar 2020	2.2	2.5
May 2020	1.9	3.1
Jul 2020	3.1	3.3
Sep 2020	1.1	1.3
Nov 2020	0.3	0.6
Jan 2021	0.4	0.4
Mar 2021	1.6	0.7
May 2021	3.2	1.8
Jul 2021	3.5	2.4
Sep 2021	4.5	3.1
Nov 2021	6.5	5.2
Jan 2022	7.9	7.0
Mar 2022	9.1	8.0
May 2022	8.3	7.1
Jul 2022	8.2	6.6
Sep 2022	7.7	7.2
Nov 2022	6.9	6.7

Food prices fell 0.7 percent for the two months ending in November. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) decreased 1.8 percent over the two-month period. The decrease in the index for food at home was due to declines in prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-5.1 percent), cereals and bakery products (-4.6 percent). Prices for food away from home (which include restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 0.8 percent.

Over the year, food prices rose 9.7 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 11.1 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store food group indexes contributing. The other food at home index (sugar, sweets, fats, and oils, for example) contributed most to the increase at 12.3 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 7.9 percent over the same period.

The energy index fell 3.6 percent for the two months ending in November, following a 12.5 percent decline in the two months ending in September. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-8.8 percent), but electricity (-2.8 percent) also fell. The two-month decline was partially offset by a rise in prices for natural gas service.

From November 2021 to November 2022, energy prices rose 4.1 percent. Increasing prices for electricity (+8.2 percent) and natural gas service outweighed falling prices for gasoline (-3.2 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.9 percent in October and November. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+2.4 percent), rent of primary residence (+3.4 percent) and public transportation were partially offset by lower prices for medical care services, used cars and trucks (-4.8 percent), and recreation (-2.0 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 6.7 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+8.9 percent), rent of primary residence (+12.9 percent), new vehicles, and household furnishings and operations (+7.1 percent).

The January 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures 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 93 percent of the total U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. 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 6,000 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. For most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000.  Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods available on the internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/.

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 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metropolitan area is comprised of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Jefferson, and Park counties in Colorado.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.