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17-435-BOS
Friday, April 14, 2017
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Boston-Brockton-Nashua area edged up 0.1 percent in March, 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 paid by area consumers for all items less food and energy, up 0.2 percent. Lower food and energy prices down 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, almost entirely offset this increase. (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 2.5 percent. The increase was largely attributable to higher prices within all items less food and energy, up 2.1 percent and to a lesser extent, higher energy prices paid by area consumers, up 13.6 percent (See chart 1.). Food prices were down 0.4 percent over the year, partially offsetting the increase.
Food
Food prices edged down 0.6 percent since January mainly due to lower grocery store or food at home prices, down 0.8 percent. Restaurant prices, or food away from home, edged down 0.2 percent, contributing to the decrease.
Food prices decreased 0.4 percent over the year mainly due to lower grocery store prices, down 1.9 percent. To a lesser extent, restaurant prices edged up 2.1 percent partially offsetting the overall decrease since last March.
Energy
The energy index decreased 0.4 percent over the two months, mainly due to lower gasoline prices down 2.9 percent. Increases in prices paid by local households for electricity (2.0 percent) offset the overall decrease. To a lesser extent, higher prices for utility piped gas up 0.6 percent also partially offset the decrease.
Energy prices were up 13.6 percent from a year ago, largely attributable to higher gasoline prices, up 18.3 percent. Higher prices for electricity, up 9.4 percent, and to a lesser extent, utility (piped) gas up 7.5 percent, also contributed to the overall increase.
All items less food and energy
The index for all items less food and energy edged up from January (0.2 percent). The increase was mainly attributable to recreation also up 2.2 percent but almost entirely offset by decreases in education and communication (1.6 percent). Apparel, up 4.6 percent attributed to this overall increase. Within the local shelter index, lower prices for lodging away from home partially offset the overall increase.
Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.1 percent, with higher shelter costs being the main driver of the increase up 2.5 percent. Higher recreation and other goods and services prices up 6.3 percent and 6.1 percent respectively also contributed to the overall increase. Apparel up 4.4 percent also contributed to the overall increase. Within shelter, higher costs for owners’ equivalent rent of residences, up 2.5 percent led the increase.
CPI-W
In March, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) was 263.888. The CPI-W was up 0.1 percent over two months and increased 2.6 percent over the year.
The May 2017 Consumer Price Index for Boston-Brockton-Nashua is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).
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 6,000 housing units and approximately 24,000 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 https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch17.pdf.
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, Suffolk, Bristol, Hampden, and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts; Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire; York County in Maine; and 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.
Expenditure category | Indexes | Percent change from | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Historical data | Jan. 2017 | Feb. 2017 | Mar. 2017 | Mar. 2016 | Jan. 2017 | Feb. 2017 | |
All items | 264.865 | 265.070 | 2.5 | 0.1 | |||
All items (1967 = 100) | 769.837 | 770.433 | |||||
Food and beverages | 259.177 | 258.411 | -0.3 | -0.3 | |||
Food | 260.190 | 258.746 | -0.4 | -0.6 | |||
Food at home | 245.733 | 244.194 | 243.793 | -1.9 | -0.8 | -0.2 | |
Food away from home | 285.291 | 284.807 | 2.1 | -0.2 | |||
Alcoholic beverages | 252.051 | 259.430 | 0.9 | 2.9 | |||
Housing | 268.742 | 268.885 | 3.0 | 0.1 | |||
Shelter | 316.742 | 317.307 | 316.390 | 2.5 | -0.1 | -0.3 | |
Rent of primary residence(1) | 328.042 | 329.161 | 328.992 | 3.3 | 0.3 | -0.1 | |
338.105 | 339.002 | 338.114 | 2.5 | 0.0 | -0.3 | ||
338.105 | 339.002 | 338.114 | 2.5 | 0.0 | -0.3 | ||
Fuels and utilities | 270.189 | 272.981 | 10.2 | 1.0 | |||
Household energy | 226.756 | 228.116 | 229.481 | 10.8 | 1.2 | 0.6 | |
Energy services(1) | 240.729 | 242.657 | 244.524 | 8.9 | 1.6 | 0.8 | |
Electricity(1) | 271.662 | 271.662 | 276.971 | 9.4 | 2.0 | 2.0 | |
Utility (piped) gas service(1) | 178.513 | 183.632 | 179.588 | 7.5 | 0.6 | -2.2 | |
Household furnishings and operations | 128.024 | 128.342 | -1.2 | 0.2 | |||
Apparel | 141.290 | 147.823 | 4.4 | 4.6 | |||
Transportation | 185.505 | 184.533 | 2.7 | -0.5 | |||
Private transportation | 185.183 | 183.721 | 3.2 | -0.8 | |||
Motor fuel | 200.438 | 196.581 | 194.747 | 18.2 | -2.8 | -0.9 | |
Gasoline (all types) | 198.220 | 194.347 | 192.520 | 18.3 | -2.9 | -0.9 | |
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4) | 191.838 | 187.962 | 185.985 | 18.5 | -3.1 | -1.1 | |
211.648 | 208.590 | 208.015 | 16.9 | -1.7 | -0.3 | ||
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4) | 211.617 | 208.425 | 208.082 | 16.3 | -1.7 | -0.2 | |
Medical care | 635.944 | 637.160 | 0.8 | 0.2 | |||
Recreation(6) | 122.228 | 124.970 | 6.3 | 2.2 | |||
Education and communication(6) | 161.094 | 158.582 | 1.4 | -1.6 | |||
Other goods and services | 471.909 | 475.618 | 6.1 | 0.8 | |||
Commodity and service group | |||||||
Commodities | 188.622 | 189.019 | 1.6 | 0.2 | |||
Commodities less food and beverages | 151.672 | 152.515 | 2.9 | 0.6 | |||
Nondurables less food and beverages | 195.043 | 195.942 | 6.3 | 0.5 | |||
Durables | 109.546 | 110.295 | -1.4 | 0.7 | |||
Services | 333.811 | 333.838 | 3.0 | 0.0 | |||
Special aggregate indexes | |||||||
All items less shelter | 247.190 | 247.615 | 2.5 | 0.2 | |||
All items less medical care | 250.627 | 250.795 | 2.7 | 0.1 | |||
Commodities less food | 155.677 | 156.721 | 2.8 | 0.7 | |||
Nondurables | 226.138 | 226.251 | 2.6 | 0.0 | |||
Nondurables less food | 198.186 | 199.497 | 5.8 | 0.7 | |||
Services less rent of shelter(2) | 371.192 | 371.673 | 3.6 | 0.1 | |||
Services less medical care services | 313.110 | 313.143 | 3.4 | 0.0 | |||
Energy | 213.684 | 212.766 | 212.731 | 13.6 | -0.4 | 0.0 | |
All items less energy | 273.515 | 273.837 | 1.7 | 0.1 | |||
All items less food and energy | 276.636 | 277.261 | 2.1 | 0.2 | |||
Footnotes | |||||||
Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. |
Last Modified Date: Friday, April 14, 2017