Prices in the Phoenix area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), declined 0.7 percent for the two months ending in December 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the December decrease was influenced by lower prices for gasoline. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 9.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices advanced 10.6 percent. Energy prices declined 1.0 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 10.2 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ, December 2019–December 2022

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Dec 2019	3.4	3.8
Feb 2020	4.4	4.3
Apr 2020	1.5	2.4
Jun 2020	2.0	3.2
Aug 2020	1.8	2.4
Oct 2020	0.7	1.4
Dec 2020	0.5	1.0
Feb 2021	1.0	1.0
Apr 2021	4.9	4.2
Jun 2021	5.4	4.7
Aug 2021	5.1	4.7
Oct 2021	7.1	6.4
Dec 2021	9.7	8.3
Feb 2022	10.9	9.9
Apr 2022	11.0	9.7
Jun 2022	12.3	10.2
Aug 2022	13.0	12.3
Oct 2022	12.1	11.1
Dec 2022	9.5	10.2

Food prices increased 0.2 percent for the two months ending in December. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 0.3 percent, led by higher prices for fruits and vegetables (4.9 percent). Prices for food away from home increased 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 10.6 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 11.2 percent since a year ago. Price increases across food at home expenditure categories ranged from 5.0 percent for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials to 18.3 percent for dairy and related products. Prices for food away from home increased 9.9 percent.

The energy index decreased 17.1 percent for the two months ending in December. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-23.6 percent). Prices for electricity fell 10.2 percent, and prices for natural gas service declined 1.5 percent for the same period.

Energy prices decreased 1.0 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-3.4 percent). Prices paid for electricity fell 0.5 percent, but prices for natural gas service increased 7.4 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for recreation (2.3 percent), medical care (1.6 percent), and shelter (1.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for new and used motor vehicles (-3.3 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 10.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (17.0 percent), household furnishings and operations (12.4 percent), and medical care (7.5 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in used cars and trucks (-7.3 percent) and recreation (-1.4 percent).

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

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 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan area covered in this release consists of Maricopa and Pinal Counties in the State of Arizona.

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

Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale (December 2001=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes				Percent change from-
	Historical data	Oct. 2022	Nov. 2022	Dec. 2022	Dec. 2021	Oct. 2022	Nov. 2022
Expenditure category
All items		176.337	-	175.019	9.5	-0.7	-
Food and beverages		179.932	-	180.605	10.5	0.4	-
Food		182.705	-	183.113	10.6	0.2	-
Food at home		179.262	177.641	179.806	11.2	0.3	1.2
Cereals and bakery products		218.624	-	229.000	13.4	4.7	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		227.018	-	221.794	6.6	-2.3	-
Dairy and related products		146.743	-	151.986	18.3	3.6	-
Fruits and vegetables		146.177	-	153.407	11.3	4.9	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials		138.900	-	130.530	5.0	-6.0	-
Other food at home		179.474	-	178.558	14.3	-0.5	-
Food away from home		189.782	-	190.016	9.9	0.1	-
Alcoholic beverages		149.228	-	153.531	8.8	2.9	-
Housing		194.250	-	195.435	15.4	0.6	-
Shelter		208.153	209.447	210.945	17.0	1.3	0.7
Rent of primary residence		219.795	222.760	225.420	21.9	2.6	1.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences		205.979	207.978	209.839	16.6	1.9	0.9
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence		205.979	207.978	209.839	16.6	1.9	0.9
Fuels and utilities		191.198	-	179.001	4.2	-6.4	-
Household energy		190.129	172.770	172.635	0.6	-9.2	-0.1
Energy services		189.284	171.884	171.974	0.5	-9.1	0.1
Electricity		199.369	178.831	178.936	-0.5	-10.2	0.1
Utility (piped) gas service		139.830	137.782	137.799	7.4	-1.5	0.0
Household furnishings and operations		116.964	-	118.502	12.4	1.3	-
Apparel		142.645	-	142.771	5.3	0.1	-
Transportation		164.309	-	152.453	1.8	-7.2	-
Private transportation		168.929	-	156.819	1.0	-7.2	-
New and used motor vehicles		115.564	-	111.740	-	-3.3	-
New vehicles		112.872	-	111.698	-	-1.0	-
Used cars and trucks		122.196	-	115.509	-7.3	-5.5	-
Motor fuel		403.149	372.721	310.672	-2.3	-22.9	-16.6
Gasoline (all types)		402.695	371.584	307.566	-3.4	-23.6	-17.2
Gasoline, unleaded regular(1)		407.829	375.597	309.031	-3.7	-24.2	-17.7
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(1)		414.359	383.496	322.648	-2.4	-22.1	-15.9
Gasoline, unleaded premium(1)		388.062	360.995	306.268	-2.1	-21.1	-15.2
Medical care		213.278	-	216.717	7.5	1.6	-
Recreation		123.387	-	126.186	-1.4	2.3	-
Education and communication		117.973	-	118.733	-0.3	0.6	-
Tuition, other school fees, and child care		-	-	221.088	-	-	-
Other goods and services		169.009	-	170.235	5.9	0.7	-
Commodity and service group
All items		176.337	-	175.019	9.5	-0.7	-
Commodities		150.206	-	145.681	4.8	-3.0	-
Commodities less food & beverages		134.822	-	128.266	1.7	-4.9	-
Nondurables less food & beverages		188.542	-	172.148	2.1	-8.7	-
Durables		92.698	-	91.442	1.3	-1.4	-
Services		194.449	-	195.554	12.3	0.6	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		174.438	-	172.799	9.7	-0.9	-
All items less shelter		160.391	-	157.062	5.0	-2.1	-
Commodities less food		135.592	-	129.315	1.9	-4.6	-
Nondurables		184.407	-	177.293	6.6	-3.9	-
Nondurables less food		185.625	-	170.795	2.6	-8.0	-
Services less rent of shelter		176.396	-	175.239	5.4	-0.7	-
Services less medical care services		192.631	-	193.518	12.8	0.5	-
Energy		286.579	263.037	237.438	-1.0	-17.1	-9.7
All items less energy		170.373	-	171.361	10.3	0.6	-
All items less food and energy		168.398	-	169.466	10.2	0.6	-
Footnotes (1) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.