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News Release Information

22-52-SAN
Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Consumer Price Index, Seattle area — December 2021

Area prices were up 0.6 percent over the past two months, up 7.6 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Seattle area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.6 percent for the two months ending in December 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the December increase was influenced by higher prices for household furnishings and operations and 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 advanced 7.6 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices increased 8.4 percent. Energy prices jumped 25.0 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 6.5 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Seattle, December 2018-December 2021
Food

Food prices rose 0.9 percent for the two months ending in December. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 1.0 percent, led by higher prices for fruits and vegetables (4.0 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (3.5 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in cereals and bakery products (-4.2 percent) and dairy and related products (-2.6 percent). Prices for food away from home advanced 0.9 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 8.4 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 9.2 percent since a year ago, led by higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (25.8 percent) and fruits and vegetables (10.2 percent).  Prices for food away from home increased 7.5 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 1.0 percent for the two months ending in December. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for natural gas service (6.5 percent). Prices for gasoline increased 0.5 percent, and prices for electricity increased 0.3 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 25.0 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (42.5 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service rose 8.0 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 2.0 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.5 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for household furnishings and operations (8.2 percent) and shelter (0.6 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for recreation (-5.1 percent) and apparel (-1.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 6.5 percent. Components contributing to the increase included used cars and trucks (38.2 percent), household furnishings and operations (20.9 percent), and shelter (3.0 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in motor vehicle insurance (-8.7 percent).

Table A. Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted
Month20172018201920202021
2-month12-month2-month12-month2-month12-month2-month12-month2-month12-month

February

1.03.40.83.30.72.71.02.51.21.7

April

0.83.10.83.30.52.4-0.61.31.13.4

June

0.83.00.83.30.72.30.20.92.25.5

August

-0.22.5-0.33.10.63.21.41.61.15.2

October

0.53.00.43.1-0.62.2-0.12.11.16.5

December

0.53.50.22.80.32.2-0.41.40.67.6

The February 2022 Consumer Price Index for the Seattle area is scheduled to be released on March 10, 2022.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on December 2021 Consumer Price Index Data

Data collection by personal visit for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) program has been suspended almost entirely since March 16, 2020. When possible, data normally collected by personal visit were collected either online or by phone. Additionally, data collection in December was affected by the temporary closing or limited operations of certain types of establishments. These factors resulted in an increase in the number of prices considered temporarily unavailable and imputed.

While the CPI program attempted to collect as much data as possible, many indexes are based on smaller amounts of collected prices than usual, and a small number of indexes that are normally published were not published this month.

For each month from March 2020 to December 2021, BLS has published a summary of the impact of the pandemic on the Consumer Price Index news release and data. The impact summary for December is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/consumer-price-index-covid19-impacts-december-2021.htm. Beginning with publication of January 2022 data in February 2022, this month-specific impact summary will be discontinued. However, information related to the impact of the pandemic will continue to be available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-consumer-price-index.htm.


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 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties in the State of Washington.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments 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

Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

IndexesPercent change from-
Historical
data
Oct.
2021
Nov.
2021
Dec.
2021
Dec.
2020
Oct.
2021
Nov.
2021

Expenditure category

All items

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0
303.099-304.8567.60.6-

All items (1967=100)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DAA0
923.964-929.320---

Food and beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF
313.134-316.1178.91.0-

Food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF1
315.339-318.2888.40.9-

Food at home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF11
286.313289.120289.0949.21.00.0

Cereals and bakery products

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF111
319.078-305.6162.2-4.2-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF112
273.492-283.06425.83.5-

Dairy and related products

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEFJ
244.544-238.257-2.6-2.6-

Fruits and vegetables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF113
444.553-462.53710.24.0-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF114
362.350-361.3306.5-0.3-

Other food at home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF115
222.116-224.1914.80.9-

Food away from home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEFV
359.862-363.0777.50.9-

Alcoholic beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAF116
284.625-287.80813.41.1-

Housing

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAH
353.673-359.2925.11.6-

Shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAH1
404.396405.828406.7913.00.60.2

Rent of primary residence(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEHA
411.695413.560414.9742.30.80.3

Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEHC
423.403424.924427.1111.90.90.5

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEHC01
423.403424.924427.1111.90.90.5

Fuels and utilities

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAH2
289.446-292.6113.21.1-

Household energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAH21
259.411263.852264.5173.92.00.3

Energy services(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEHF
305.872311.267311.2673.41.80.0

Electricity(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEHF01
332.168333.037333.0372.00.30.0

Utility (piped) gas service(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEHF02
177.637189.151189.1518.06.50.0

Household furnishings and operations

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAH3
201.337-217.82020.98.2-

Apparel

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAA
129.504-127.0793.2-1.9-

Transportation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAT
253.876-257.22421.61.3-

Private transportation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAT1
270.069-271.86920.30.7-

New and used motor vehicles(4)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSETA
122.162-123.80122.81.3-

New vehicles(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSETA01
211.753-211.75310.70.0-

Used cars and trucks(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSETA02
450.934-479.42638.26.3-

Motor fuel

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSETB
437.313439.892439.10042.20.4-0.2

Gasoline (all types)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSETB01
446.855449.381448.91742.50.5-0.1

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSS47014
483.910486.566486.12343.10.5-0.1

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSS47015
355.365357.491357.11738.80.5-0.1

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSS47016
414.807417.402416.77740.40.5-0.1

Motor vehicle insurance(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSETE
465.102-465.102-8.70.0-

Medical care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAM
425.299-421.6483.0-0.9-

Recreation(6)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAR
114.965-109.0818.8-5.1-

Education and communication(6)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAE
146.890-146.4170.4-0.3-

Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSEEB
1,744.130-1,741.0700.5-0.2-

Other goods and services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAG
440.462-445.4636.91.1-

Commodity and service group

All items

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0
303.099-304.8567.60.6-

Commodities

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAC
223.826-225.90314.40.9-

Commodities less food & beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSACL11
180.549-182.19119.00.9-

Nondurables less food & beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSANL11
207.279-207.50113.80.1-

Durables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAD
150.645-153.29725.01.8-

Services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAS
375.863-377.2343.70.4-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0L5
297.698-299.7227.90.7-

All items less shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0L2
263.816-265.32810.20.6-

Commodities less food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSACL1
184.648-186.35318.60.9-

Nondurables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSAN
258.097-259.68710.80.6-

Nondurables less food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSANL1
213.750-214.24913.80.2-

Services less rent of shelter(3)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSASL2RS
350.102-350.3594.70.1-

Services less medical care services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSASL5
367.933-369.7033.80.5-

Energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0E
356.670360.259360.19125.01.00.0

All items less energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0LE
303.573-305.2666.80.6-

All items less food and energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49DSA0L1E
301.708-303.1746.50.5-

Footnotes
(1) Indexes on a November 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.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2022