The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Boston-Brockton-Nashua area was up 0.2 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that the two-month increase was mainly due to higher prices for electricity and utility (piped) gas. To a lesser extent, price advances within the all items less food and energy category also contributed. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bimonthly changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months the Boston CPI-U rose 1.6 percent. The increase was largely attributable to higher shelter prices, up 3.1 percent. (See chart 1.)  

Food

Food prices edged up 0.2 percent since September due to higher grocery store prices, also known as food at home, up 0.4 percent. Partially offsetting this rise, food away from home, or restaurant prices, were down 0.2 percent.

From November 2013 to November 2014 the index for food rose 1.8 percent mainly due to higher grocery store prices (+2.3 percent) and, to a lesser extent, higher restaurant prices (+0.9 percent).  

Energy

The energy index rose slightly, up 0.8 percent over the two months, mainly due to both electricity and utility (piped) gas price increases. Utility (piped) gas prices were up due to suppliers switching to winter rate schedules. These increases were largely offset by lower gasoline prices, down 13.4 percent.  Area motorists paid $3.011 per gallon of gasoline in November.

Energy prices edged down 0.2 percent from a year ago, attributable to lower gasoline prices, down 10.4 percent. Partially offsetting this decline were 21.4-percent and 8.6-percent advances in local electricity and utility (piped) gas prices, respectively. The November increase in local electricity prices was the largest since a 23.4-percent increase was recorded in October of 2006.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.1 percent in November, due to higher prices for medical care and other goods and services. The increase in medical care was mainly attributable to higher prices within eye glasses and eye care. Lower prices for education and communication as well as apparel mostly offset these increases. 

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent, with higher shelter costs, rising 3.1 percent from November 2013, being the main cause of this increase. This marked the 41^st consecutive annual increase in the local shelter index.

CPI-W

In November, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) was 255.903. The CPI-W was unchanged over two months and rose 1.0 percent over the year.

The January 2015 Consumer Price Index for Boston-Brockton-Nashua is scheduled to be released on Thursday, February 26, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

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 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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 change 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/cpi/.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together withweights 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 Boston-Brockton-Nashua, Mass.-N.H.-Maine-Conn. consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk Counties and parts of Bristol, Hampden, and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts; parts of Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire; part of York County in Maine; and part of Windham County in Connecticut.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service (800) 877-8339.

 

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Boston-Brockton-Nashua, Ma.-N.H.-Maine-Conn., (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	Sep. 2014	Oct. 2014	Nov. 2014	Nov. 2013	Sep. 2014	Oct. 2014
All items		255.878		256.262	1.6	0.2
All items (1967 = 100)		743.715		744.833
Food and beverages		251.453		252.097	1.8	0.3
Food		251.716		252.201	1.8	0.2
Food at home		242.474	242.198	243.441	2.3	0.4	0.5
Food away from home		266.983		266.552	0.9	-0.2
Alcoholic beverages		252.108		254.396	1.9	0.9
Housing		251.356		255.285	3.7	1.6
Shelter		295.662	295.295	295.641	3.1	0.0	0.1
Rent of primary residence (1)		304.672	305.104	305.536	2.7	0.3	0.1
Owners' equivalent rent of residences (1) (2) (3)		312.866	313.349	314.572	3.1	0.5	0.4
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (1) (2) (3)		312.866	313.349	314.572	3.1	0.5	0.4
Fuels and utilities		245.160		280.444	9.1	14.4
Household energy		205.945	201.711	240.231	10.3	16.6	19.1
Energy services (1)		190.950	187.922	240.049	17.0	25.7	27.7
Electricity (1)		208.654	206.440	250.453	21.4	20.0	21.3
Utility (piped) gas service (1)		153.232	148.805	214.262	8.6	39.8	44.0
Household furnishings and operations		127.244		127.113	1.6	-0.1
Apparel		150.798		148.429	0.2	-1.6
Transportation		206.609		198.617	-3.3	-3.9
Private transportation		205.957		195.175	-3.8	-5.2
Motor fuel		294.746	278.453	255.220	-10.4	-13.4	-8.3
Gasoline (all types)		291.266	275.152	252.153	-10.4	-13.4	-8.4
Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)		288.169	271.085	246.919	-11.2	-14.3	-8.9
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4) (5)		299.454	285.698	265.428	-8.7	-11.4	-7.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium (4)		286.700	274.399	256.425	-7.9	-10.6	-6.6
Medical care		588.820		597.061	1.9	1.4
Recreation (6)		114.602		114.268	0.6	-0.3
Education and communication (6)		149.764		148.429	-0.6	-0.9
Other goods and services		439.841		447.550	3.7	1.8
Commodity and service group
Commodities		196.455		192.729	-0.5	-1.9
Commodities less food and beverages		167.083		161.229	-2.3	-3.5
Nondurables less food and beverages		223.759		212.620	-2.6	-5.0
Durables		112.084		111.193	-1.7	-0.8
Services		308.801		313.173	2.9	1.4
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		242.892		243.442	0.9	0.2
All items less medical care		242.839		242.973	1.6	0.1
Commodities less food		170.420		164.916	-2.0	-3.2
Nondurables		236.275		231.136	-0.2	-2.2
Nondurables less food		224.241		214.302	-2.1	-4.4
Services less rent of shelter (2)		340.084		350.181	2.7	3.0
Services less medical care services		289.764		293.808	3.1	1.4
Energy		243.098	233.648	245.031	-0.2	0.8	4.9
All items less energy		260.785		261.028	1.8	0.1
All items less food and energy		263.091		263.285	1.8	0.1
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (3) This index series underwent a change in composition in January 2010. The expenditure class now includes weight from secondary residences, and has been re-titled "Owners' equivalent rent of residences." The item stratum "Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence" excludes secondary residences. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (6) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.