Consumer Price Index, Boston-Cambridge-Newton — November 2022

Area prices were up 0.6 percent for the two months ending in November and 7.0 percent over the year

Prices in the Boston area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.6 percent for the two months ending in November 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that higher prices for energy were partly offset by lower prices for non-food items. (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 7.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.7 percent over the year. Energy prices increased 29.5 percent, largely the result of higher prices for household energy. Food prices increased 10.8 percent. (See table 1.)

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, November 2019–November 2022

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, November 2019–November 2022
Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Nov 2019	2.1	2.8
Jan 2020	2.2	2.4
Mar 2020	1.8	2.3
May 2020	0.6	1.1
Jul 2020	0.8	0.8
Sep 2020	0.6	0.5
Nov 2020	0.4	0.4
Jan 2021	0.5	0.2
Mar 2021	1.3	0.4
May 2021	3.2	2.3
Jul 2021	4.3	3.3
Sep 2021	4.0	2.7
Nov 2021	5.3	3.3
Jan 2022	6.3	4.7
Mar 2022	7.3	5.2
May 2022	7.5	4.9
Jul 2022	7.0	3.9
Sep 2022	8.1	5.9
Nov 2022	7.0	4.7

Food

Food prices inched down 0.1 percent for the two months ending in November. A 1.4-percent decline in prices for food away from home was largely offset by a 0.7-percent rise in prices for food at home. Prices rose in four of six grocery categories.

Over the year, food prices increased 10.8 percent. Prices for food at home rose 12.4 percent, and prices for food away from home increased 8.2 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 12.9 percent for the two months ending in November. The advance was mainly due to a 20.5-percent rise in prices for household energy, with higher prices for electricity (23.9 percent), natural gas (18.6 percent), and fuel oil. Prices for gasoline increased 1.3 percent.

Energy prices increased 29.5 percent over the year, led by a 40.9-percent advance in household energy. Higher prices for electricity (46.7 percent), natural gas (28.6 percent), and fuel oil contributed to the rise in household energy prices. Gasoline prices rose 12.9 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy fell 0.4 percent in the latest two-month period, primarily due to a seasonal decline in apparel prices (-9.4 percent) as well as a 2.5-percent decrease in prices for new and used motor vehicles. These declines were partially offset by 0.5-percent rise in shelter prices.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.7 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (4.9 percent), medical care (5.8 percent), and household furnishings and operations (8.9 percent). Within shelter, increases in owners’ equivalent rent (5.8 percent) and residential rent (6.2 percent) were tempered by a decline in prices for lodging away from home.

Table A. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted
Month	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
Month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
January	1.1	2.8	0.5	2.5	0.6	2.2	0.7	0.5	1.6	6.3
March	0.9	3.6	0.5	2.1	0.1	1.8	0.9	1.3	1.9	7.3
May	0.0	3.2	0.2	2.3	-1.0	0.6	0.8	3.2	1.1	7.5
July	0.3	3.4	0.0	2.0	0.2	0.8	1.2	4.3	0.7	7.0
September	1.2	3.3	0.2	1.1	0.1	0.6	-0.1	4.0	0.9	8.1
November	-0.4	3.2	0.7	2.1	0.4	0.4	1.7	5.3	0.6	7.0

The January 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Boston area is scheduled to be released on February 14, 2023.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures 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 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 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 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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Mass.-N.H. Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts and Rockingham and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.

Information from this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, not seasonally adjusted
(1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group	Indexes		Percent change from-
Item and Group	Sept. 2022	Nov. 2022	Nov. 2021	Sept. 2022

Expenditure category

All items	318.800	320.702	7.0	0.6
All items (1967=100)	926.601	932.131

Food and beverages	327.202	327.199	10.4	0.0
Food	331.888	331.681	10.8	-0.1
Food at home	301.967	304.160	12.4	0.7
Cereals and bakery products	356.916	362.790	11.1	1.6
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	321.796	321.225	8.2	-0.2
Dairy and related products	349.805	360.101	21.3	2.9
Fruits and vegetables	374.926	369.468	5.3	-1.5
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	190.860	191.978	19.7	0.6
Other food at home	237.552	241.651	15.8	1.7
Food away from home	383.666	378.348	8.2	-1.4
Alcoholic beverages	279.156	281.651	5.4	0.9

Housing	332.273	340.112	8.6	2.4
Shelter	384.018	385.860	4.9	0.5
Rent of primary residence	399.536	403.537	6.2	1.0
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)	414.602	418.458	5.8	0.9
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)	414.602	418.458	5.8	0.9
Fuels and utilities	403.489	474.909	39.0	17.7
Household energy	338.387	407.854	40.9	20.5
Energy services	352.832	431.045	40.4	22.2
Electricity	390.175	483.497	46.7	23.9
Utility (piped) gas service	272.438	323.104	28.6	18.6
Household furnishings and operations	150.086	151.101	8.9	0.7

Apparel	140.637	127.485	-0.1	-9.4

Transportation	235.205	232.265	5.4	-1.2
Private transportation	243.484	240.468	4.1	-1.2
New and used motor vehicles(3)	138.642	135.159	3.0	-2.5
New vehicles(1)	239.197	240.974	3.9	0.7
Used cars and trucks(1)	477.666	451.981	-3.5	-5.4
Motor fuel	330.546	334.948	13.1	1.3
Gasoline (all types)	326.708	330.841	12.9	1.3
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	315.222	319.432	12.0	1.3
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	364.567	365.320	17.3	0.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	355.001	358.172	18.6	0.9

Medical care	748.394	744.951	5.8	-0.5

Recreation(3)	120.763	119.791	3.3	-0.8

Education and communication(3)	178.096	177.757	1.2	-0.2
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,464.680	1,464.680	2.2	0.0

Other goods and services	594.997	597.538	10.9	0.4

Commodity and service group

All items	318.800	320.702	7.0	0.6
Commodities	229.750	228.010	7.2	-0.8
Commodities less food and beverages	180.321	178.134	5.4	-1.2
Nondurables less food and beverages	234.150	232.991	10.0	-0.5
Durables	130.400	127.918	1.3	-1.9
Services	399.203	404.383	6.9	1.3

Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care	302.370	304.457	7.1	0.7
All items less shelter	296.071	298.036	8.2	0.7
Commodities less food	184.452	182.359	5.4	-1.1
Nondurables	279.444	278.820	10.3	-0.2
Nondurables less food	236.473	235.541	9.7	-0.4
Services less rent of shelter(2)	435.562	445.484	9.3	2.3
Services less medical care services	374.245	379.973	7.1	1.5
Energy	332.423	375.200	29.5	12.9
All items less energy	323.143	322.078	5.4	-0.3
All items less food and energy	323.233	322.039	4.7	-0.4
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a January 1978=100 base. (2) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Northeast Information Office

Consumer Price Index, Boston-Cambridge-Newton — November 2022