Prices in the San Francisco area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), declined 0.3 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, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 4.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices advanced 10.2 percent. Energy prices advanced 5.3 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of electricity. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.0 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, December 2019–December 2022

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Dec 2019	2.5	2.4
Feb 2020	2.9	2.8
Apr 2020	1.1	1.5
Jun 2020	1.6	1.5
Aug 2020	1.6	1.2
Oct 2020	1.1	1.1
Dec 2020	2.0	1.4
Feb 2021	1.6	0.9
Apr 2021	3.8	2.9
Jun 2021	3.2	2.3
Aug 2021	3.7	2.5
Oct 2021	3.8	2.4
Dec 2021	4.2	2.8
Feb 2022	5.2	3.4
Apr 2022	5.0	2.7
Jun 2022	6.8	4.4
Aug 2022	5.7	4.1
Oct 2022	6.0	4.1
Dec 2022	4.9	4.0

Food prices increased 0.8 percent for the two months ending in December. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 0.7 percent, with higher prices in four of the six subcategories. Prices for food away from home increased 1.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 10.2 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 10.7 percent since a year ago. Price increases across food at home expenditure categories ranged from 6.3 percent for cereals and bakery products to 17.4 percent for dairy and related products. Prices for food away from home increased 9.5 percent.

The energy index decreased 15.0 percent for the two months ending in December. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-25.5 percent). Prices for natural gas service declined 6.8 percent, while prices for electricity were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices advanced 5.3 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for electricity (18.4 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service increased 14.7 percent, but prices for gasoline decreased 5.2 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.7 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for recreation (3.7 percent), education and communication (2.5 percent), and shelter (1.1 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for new and used motor vehicles (-1.4 percent) and apparel (-1.3 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.0 percent. Components contributing to the increase included recreation (5.0 percent), household furnishings and operations (4.9 percent), and shelter (3.5 percent).  Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in used cars and trucks (-7.5 percent).

The February 2023 Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco 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 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo Counties in the State of California.

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

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (1982-84=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		332.062	-	331.222	4.9	-0.3	-
All items (1967=100)		1,020.851	-	1,018.268	-	-	-
Food and beverages		353.755	-	357.277	10.1	1.0	-
Food		356.160	-	359.081	10.2	0.8	-
Food at home		324.289	324.963	326.412	10.7	0.7	0.4
Cereals and bakery products		323.030	-	321.182	6.3	-0.6	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		352.305	-	356.523	7.6	1.2	-
Dairy and related products		337.695	-	345.389	17.4	2.3	-
Fruits and vegetables		424.105	-	414.685	6.5	-2.2	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		234.793	-	243.487	11.6	3.7	-
Other food at home		275.706	-	279.542	16.2	1.4	-
Food away from home		390.174	-	394.357	9.5	1.1	-
Alcoholic beverages		327.094	-	338.666	8.5	3.5	-
Housing		378.800	-	381.854	4.2	0.8	-
Shelter		421.899	423.908	426.481	3.5	1.1	0.6
Rent of primary residence(2)		479.999	483.943	487.480	4.3	1.6	0.7
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)		453.373	455.571	457.867	3.3	1.0	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)		453.373	455.571	457.867	3.3	1.0	0.5
Fuels and utilities		558.399	-	551.930	12.1	-1.2	-
Household energy		526.540	514.530	515.010	17.3	-2.2	0.1
Energy services(2)		526.891	515.058	516.458	17.4	-2.0	0.3
Electricity(2)		542.853	542.853	542.853	18.4	0.0	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service(2)		497.759	459.472	464.003	14.7	-6.8	1.0
Household furnishings and operations		166.432	-	165.874	4.9	-0.3	-
Apparel		111.124	-	109.638	1.7	-1.3	-
Transportation		264.174	-	243.553	3.0	-7.8	-
Private transportation		263.700	-	244.479	1.6	-7.3	-
New and used motor vehicles(4)		120.852	-	119.184	2.8	-1.4	-
New vehicles(1)		194.542	-	194.236	3.3	-0.2	-
Used cars and trucks(1)		358.099	-	340.493	-7.5	-4.9	-
Motor fuel		435.974	383.334	325.704	-4.8	-25.3	-15.0
Gasoline (all types)		434.285	381.012	323.357	-5.2	-25.5	-15.1
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		435.633	381.744	323.162	-5.3	-25.8	-15.3
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		403.504	354.697	303.156	-4.7	-24.9	-14.5
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		406.453	358.359	307.298	-4.5	-24.4	-14.2
Medical care		587.405	-	-	-	-	-
Recreation(6)		138.058	-	143.214	5.0	3.7	-
Education and communication(6)		156.273	-	160.184	2.8	2.5	-
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,943.403	-	1,943.403	-	0.0	-
Other goods and services		571.546	-	569.746	6.9	-0.3	-
Commodity and service group
All items		332.062	-	331.222	4.9	-0.3	-
Commodities		235.596	-	230.565	5.9	-2.1	-
Commodities less food & beverages		172.641	-	164.586	2.5	-4.7	-
Nondurables less food & beverages		233.954	-	213.305	2.2	-8.8	-
Durables		116.272	-	116.497	2.8	0.2	-
Services		413.349	-	415.986	4.4	0.6	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		321.507	-	320.590	4.9	-0.3	-
All items less shelter		298.004	-	294.223	6.0	-1.3	-
Commodities less food		179.774	-	172.119	2.8	-4.3	-
Nondurables		295.387	-	286.723	7.0	-2.9	-
Nondurables less food		241.666	-	222.980	2.8	-7.7	-
Services less rent of shelter(3)		425.089	-	424.773	6.1	-0.1	-
Services less medical care services		401.337	-	404.019	4.4	0.7	-
Energy		474.556	437.912	403.252	5.3	-15.0	-7.9
All items less energy		329.571	-	331.841	4.9	0.7	-
All items less food and energy		326.374	-	328.551	4.0	0.7	-
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.