BLS: West prices up 0.4 percent in April and 3.2 percent over the year

Food

Food prices edged up 0.2 percent for the month of April. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home increased 0.4 percent, and prices for food at home inched up 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 1.6 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 3.4 percent, while prices for food at home were virtually unchanged.

Energy

The energy index rose 4.4 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (6.9 percent). Prices for natural gas service rose 1.0 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 0.6 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 10.8 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (17.3 percent). Prices paid for electricity increased 3.8 percent, but prices for natural gas service declined 3.7 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.1 percent in April. Higher prices for alcoholic beverages (0.8 percent), household furnishings and operations (0.6 percent), and shelter (0.2 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for recreation (-0.7 percent), new and used motor vehicles (-0.5 percent), and education and communication (-0.1 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.9 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (4.3 percent) and medical care (3.0 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decline for new vehicles (-2.2 percent).

The May 2018 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on June 12, 2018.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure 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 population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total 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 5,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period “market basket” of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. 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/homch17_a.htm.

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 West Region covered in this release is comprised of the following thirteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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.