Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.6 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the July increase was led by higher prices for shelter. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 3.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices increased 3.7 percent. Energy prices jumped 26.7 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.3 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.6 percent for the month of July. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 1.2 percent mainly due to a 2.9 percent increase in both meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, and other food at home. Prices for food away from home edged up 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 3.7 percent. Prices for food at home rose 4.5 percent since a year ago with increases at or above 2.3 percent for all food categories. Prices for food away from home moved up 3.0 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 1.9 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (2.1 percent). Prices for natural gas service rose 2.0 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 1.3 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 26.7 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (37.4 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service rose 14.2 percent, and prices for electricity increased 10.8 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.5 percent in July. Higher prices for recreation (2.0 percent) and shelter (0.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices (-1.0 percent) for both apparel and alcoholic beverages.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.3 percent. Components contributing to the increase included new and used motor vehicles (14.2 percent), recreation (8.8 percent), and shelter (1.1 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in education and communication (-1.8 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-1.3 percent).

Table A. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.9	2.1	0.8	3.5	0.7	3.2	0.8	3.1	0.2	0.9
February	0.6	2.7	0.7	3.6	0.1	2.5	0.3	3.4	0.4	1.0
March	0.3	2.7	0.4	3.8	0.6	2.7	-0.7	1.9	0.5	2.2
April	0.2	2.7	0.4	4.0	1.0	3.3	-0.3	0.7	1.1	3.6
May	0.3	2.5	0.4	4.1	0.2	3.1	0.4	0.9	0.6	3.9
June	-0.2	2.2	-0.2	4.0	0.0	3.3	0.5	1.4	0.6	4.0
July	0.3	2.5	0.2	3.9	0.1	3.3	0.6	1.9	0.6	3.9
August	0.3	2.8	0.2	3.9	0.0	3.0	0.1	2.0
September	0.4	3.1	0.5	3.9	0.5	3.0	-0.3	1.2
October	0.4	3.1	0.5	4.1	0.7	3.2	0.2	0.7
November	0.1	3.6	-0.3	3.6	-0.3	3.2	0.1	1.0
December	0.0	3.6	-0.3	3.2	-0.6	3.0	-0.2	1.5

The August 2021 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on September 14, 2021.

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 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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area includes Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California.

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.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	May 2021	Jun. 2021	Jul. 2021	Jul. 2020	May 2021	Jun. 2021
Expenditure category
All items	287.620	289.218	290.890	3.9	1.1	0.6
All items (1967=100)	849.756	854.479	859.418	-	-	-
Food and beverages	288.225	288.486	289.881	3.7	0.6	0.5
Food	288.639	288.855	290.582	3.7	0.7	0.6
Food at home	273.803	274.288	277.535	4.5	1.4	1.2
Cereals and bakery products	282.619	283.817	283.924	3.0	0.5	0.0
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	311.151	312.105	321.214	8.7	3.2	2.9
Dairy and related products	262.934	265.577	265.171	3.2	0.9	-0.2
Fruits and vegetables	364.347	375.174	372.452	2.3	2.2	-0.7
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	274.821	272.911	272.546	3.0	-0.8	-0.1
Other food at home	208.027	203.112	209.102	4.1	0.5	2.9
Food away from home	300.175	300.127	300.355	3.0	0.1	0.1
Alcoholic beverages	262.603	263.363	260.790	4.1	-0.7	-1.0
Housing	328.792	329.939	332.085	1.6	1.0	0.7
Shelter	378.182	379.449	381.105	1.1	0.8	0.4
Rent of primary residence(2)	402.879	402.222	403.329	0.8	0.1	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)	392.634	394.234	395.231	0.8	0.7	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	392.612	394.211	395.208	0.8	0.7	0.3
Fuels and utilities	384.156	384.486	393.448	10.5	2.4	2.3
Household energy	339.425	339.830	345.035	11.7	1.7	1.5
Energy services(2)	338.030	338.412	343.597	11.7	1.6	1.5
Electricity(2)	382.304	379.574	384.683	10.8	0.6	1.3
Utility (piped) gas service(2)	292.442	299.257	305.289	14.2	4.4	2.0
Household furnishings and operations	118.394	119.311	120.866	-1.3	2.1	1.3
Apparel	110.660	108.881	107.807	2.2	-2.6	-1.0
Transportation	232.220	236.538	238.876	17.8	2.9	1.0
Private transportation	230.905	235.804	238.880	18.6	3.5	1.3
New and used motor vehicles(4)	98.432	101.588	102.565	14.2	4.2	1.0
New vehicles(1)	175.268	176.871	179.479	5.5	2.4	1.5
Used cars and trucks(1)	341.860	376.506	378.904	40.4	10.8	0.6
Motor fuel	313.441	320.374	326.954	37.4	4.3	2.1
Gasoline (all types)	306.245	313.044	319.494	37.4	4.3	2.1
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	306.623	313.511	320.020	38.2	4.4	2.1
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	293.696	300.072	306.247	36.2	4.3	2.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	293.985	300.226	306.233	34.6	4.2	2.0
Motor vehicle insurance(1)	823.411	823.411	823.411	4.7	0.0	0.0
Medical care	510.991	510.542	511.849	0.0	0.2	0.3
Recreation(6)	109.800	112.526	114.741	8.8	4.5	2.0
Education and communication(6)	147.137	148.386	148.291	-1.8	0.8	-0.1
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,916.782	1,932.866	1,939.965	-1.5	1.2	0.4
Other goods and services	465.845	466.483	464.816	1.2	-0.2	-0.4
Commodity and service group
All items	287.620	289.218	290.890	3.9	1.1	0.6
Commodities	194.665	195.890	197.297	7.3	1.4	0.7
Commodities less food & beverages	146.550	148.177	149.550	10.6	2.0	0.9
Nondurables less food & beverages	200.080	201.012	202.451	11.7	1.2	0.7
Durables	94.971	97.032	98.260	8.9	3.5	1.3
Services	369.922	371.836	373.713	2.3	1.0	0.5
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	277.851	279.512	281.186	4.2	1.2	0.6
All items less shelter	247.617	249.348	251.018	5.8	1.4	0.7
Commodities less food	151.630	153.238	154.482	10.2	1.9	0.8
Nondurables	245.414	246.014	247.439	6.9	0.8	0.6
Nondurables less food	206.673	207.601	208.757	10.9	1.0	0.6
Services less rent of shelter(3)	367.927	370.822	373.051	4.1	1.4	0.6
Services less medical care services	356.612	358.685	360.556	2.5	1.1	0.5
Energy	324.926	329.583	335.719	26.7	3.3	1.9
All items less energy	287.403	288.809	290.195	2.5	1.0	0.5
All items less food and energy	287.323	288.958	290.279	2.3	1.0	0.5
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base. (2) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (3) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (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.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.