Consumer Price Index

Consumer Price Index

August 14, 2008
On a seasonally adjusted basis, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 0.8 percent in July, following a 1.1 percent increase in June. The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.3 percent, the second straight such increase. More...
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Current CPI Economic News Releases

• CPI News Release (HTML) (PDF)
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service—receive the Consumer Price Index news release by e-mail.
• Upcoming Release Dates through December 2008
• NEW CPI News Release Issued by BLS Regional Offices

Archived

• Archived CPI News Releases (1994 forward)

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
Tutorials: For help, try these tutorials
All Urban Consumers (Current Series) (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series) (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
All Urban Consumers (Chained CPI) (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
Average Price Data (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
Department Store Inventory Price Index (Consumer Price Index - CPI)

Calculators

Calculator Name	Calculator	Tutorial
Inflation Easily find out how the buying power of the dollar has changed over the years using the inflation calculator.

More Tools

• Series Report—Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.

• Text files (FTP) - For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.
  • All Urban Consumers (Current Series)
  • Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series)
  • All Urban Consumers (Chained CPI)
  • Average Price Data
  • Department Store Inventory Price Index
  • Special Requests

All CPI Databases »

Consumer Price Index History Table:

• Table Containing History of CPI-U U.S. All Items Indexes and Annual Percent Changes From 1913 to Present

CPI Detailed Report Tables:

• Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (complete text and tables, including first half 2008 semiannual average indexes), July 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (complete text and tables), June 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (complete text and tables), May 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Consumer Price Index (complete text and tables), April 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (complete text and tables), March 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (complete text and tables), February 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Consumer Price Index Detailed Report (complete text and tables), January 2008 (PDF 491K)
• Archived CPI Detailed Report Tables October 2000-current

Relative Importance of Items in the Consumer Price Index

December 2007:

• 2005-2006 weights:
• US City Average (TXT)
• Relative Importance of Components in the Consumer Price Index, all areas (PDF)

• 2003-2004 weights:
• US City Average (TXT)

December 2006:

• US City Average (TXT)
• Relative Importance of Components in the Consumer Price Index, all areas (PDF)

• Relative Importance files for earlier years may be found on our Archived Relative Importances page.

Department Store Inventory Price Indexes

• July 2008 (PDF)
• June 2008 (PDF)
• May 2008 (PDF)

Publications

• CPI Detailed Reports
• BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index (HTML) (PDF)
• Note on Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers

Reports

• CPI research series using current methods
• Reconciliation Between the CPI and PCE Price Index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) undertook a joint project to detail and quantify the differences between the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Chain-type Price Index. A paper summarizing these differences can be found on the BEA website at http://www.bea.gov/papers/pdf/cpi_pce.pdf. The latest reconciliation tables can be found at http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa_underlying/pce-cpi.asp.
• Treatment of Owner-Occupied Housing in the CPI - Paper presented to the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) on December 9, 2005 (PDF)
• Updating the Housing Age-Bias Regression model in the Consumer Price Index (PDF)
• NEW Guidelines for Quality Adjustment of New Vehicle Prices (PDF)
• NEW Experimental Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of Age and Older, 1982-2007 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2003 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2004 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2005 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2006 (PDF)
• NEW Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2007 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2003 - December 2003 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2004 - December 2004 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2005 - December 2005 (PDF)
• NEW Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2007 - December 2007 (PDF)
• Consumer Price Index Users Survey (PDF 262K)
• Hedonic Quality Adjustment in the U.S. CPI for:

• Appliances: Clothes Dryers, Microwave Ovens, Refrigerators
• Audio and Video Equipment: Camcorders, Consumer Audio Products Component, DVD Players, VCRs
• College Textbooks

Recent Monthly Labor Review articles related to the Consumer Price Index

• Price measures of new vehicles: a comparison
• A hedonic model for Internet access service in the Consumer Price Index
• Price measurement in the United States: A decade after the Boskin Report
• Comparing U.S. and European inflation: the CPI and the HICP
• The CE and the PCE: a comparison
• Interarea price levels: an experimental methodology
• The effects of rounding on the Consumer Price Index
• Item replacement and quality change in apparel price indexes

CPI Fact Sheets

• Understanding the Consumer Price Index: Answers to Some Questions
• How BLS Measures Changes in Consumer Prices
• Guide to Available CPI Data (PDF 15K)
• How to Obtain CPI Information
• How to Use the Consumer Price Index for Escalation (PDF 12K)
• The Consumer Price Index--Why the Published Averages Don't Always Match An Individual's Inflation Experience (PDF 136KB)
• Consumer Price Indexes for Rent and Rental Equivalence

How BLS Measures Price Change in the Consumer Price Index for:

• Airline Fares
• Cable Television
• Household Fuels
• Leased Cars
• Lodging Away from Home
• Medical Care
• Motor Fuels
• Motor Vehicle Insurance
• New Vehicles
• Personal Computers and Peripheral Equipment
• Telephone Services, Cellular
• Telephone Services, Local
• Telephone Services, Long Distance
• Tuition and Fees, College
• Tuition and Fees, Elementary and High School
• Used Cars and Trucks

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the CPI?
2. How is the CPI used?
3. Whose buying habits does the CPI reflect?
4. Is the CPI a cost-of-living index?
5. Does the CPI measure my experience with price changes?
6. How is the CPI market basket determined?
7. What goods and services does the CPI cover?
8. How are CPI prices collected and reviewed?
9. How is the CPI calculated?
10. How are taxes treated in the CPI?

All CPI FAQs »

Notices

Expenditure Weight Update
Effective with the January 2008 release the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has updated the consumption expenditure weights in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) to the 2005-06 period. The updated expenditure weights for these indexes replace the 2003-2004 weights that were introduced effective with the January 2006 CPI release. As originally announced by BLS in December 1998, CPI expenditure weights will continue to be updated at two year intervals subsequent to the 2008 updating.

Each year with the release of the January CPI, seasonal adjustment factors are recalculated to reflect price movements from the just-completed calendar year. This routine annual recalculation may result in revisions to seasonally adjusted indexes for the previous 5 years. BLS made available recalculated seasonally adjusted indexes, as well as recalculated seasonal adjustment factors, for the period January 2003 through December 2007, on Friday, February 15, 2008.

For information on seasonal adjustment in the CPI, including revised indexes, seasonal factors, methodology, and actions taken in 2007, see our page on seasonal adjustment.

Effective with the release in February 2007 of the January 2007 Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began to publish its consumer price indexes rounded to three decimal places. Percent changes will be calculated from the three decimal place indexes. Those percent changes will continue to be published to one decimal place. For additional information, please see "Publishing Consumer Price Indexes to Three Decimal Places: Questions and Answers".

Soon after the publication of September CPI data on October 17th, 2007, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announced the annual increase in its benefit payments for the coming year. This change will mean automatic increases in payments from Social Security's Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. The increase will be effective with December 2007 payments received in January 2008. Specific information on the size of the increase is available on the SSA website at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colasummary.html.

Contacts

For hard copies of Consumer Price Index publications or historical data and help with general index questions, including escalator clauses in contracts:

• Information and Analysis: (202) 691-7000

For more information about how we treat and price commodity and service items in the Consumer Price Index:

• Food: (202) 691-6988
• Housing (rent and owners' equivalent rent): (202) 691-6991
• Transportation and Household Commodities (including gasoline, new cars, furniture and appliances): (202) 691-6982
• Apparel and Sundry (Nondurable) Commodities: (202) 691-6979
• Services (including medical care, utilities, insurance): (202) 691-6985

For help finding Consumer Price Index data in LABSTAT and for information on seasonal adjustment and other technical issues:

• Production and Control: (202) 691-6968