Pittsburgh Consumer Price Index (PDF)

Local Prices up 4.8 Percent over the Year

Retail prices in the Pittsburgh area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), rose 4.8 percent from the second half of 2007 to the second half of 2008, the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor reported today.  Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that while price advances for housing and for food and beverages led the way, all of the major categories of the Pittsburgh CPI-U had over-the-year increases in the second half of 2008.  (See chart A and table 1.)

Chart A.  12-month percent changes ended in the second half of 2008 for the major categories of the CPI-U for the Pittsburgh area, not seasonally adjusted

chart data

The housing index rose 3.7 percent from its year-ago level, due mainly to a 13.4-percent advance in fuels and utilities prices, in particular, utility (piped) gas service prices, which were up 27.1 percent—the largest over-the-year advance since the first half of 2003.  Electricity prices also contributed to higher fuels and utilities prices, rising 9.8 percent over the year.  The shelter index increased 1.3 percent over the last 12 months due largely to higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence (1.5 percent).  The other published component of the shelter index, rent of primary residence, rose 1.3 percent since the second half of 2007.  Prices for household furnishings and operations, the third component of the housing index, rose 4.6 percent over the year.

The food and beverages index rose 6.3 percent since the second half of 2007 due primarily to a 7.1-percent advance in food at home prices.  Each of these advances was the largest in its series since semiannual publication began in the first half of 1984.  Higher prices for food away from home and alcoholic beverages, up 5.9 and 4.5 percent, respectively, also contributed to the overall increase in the food and beverages index over the last year.

The transportation index increased 3.9 percent from the second half of 2007 to the second half of 2008.  Higher gasoline prices, up 8.0 percent over the year, were largely responsible for the recent advance.  Over-the-year advances in gasoline prices have continued uninterrupted since the second half of 2002.

Medical care prices advanced 6.4 percent over the year.  This index has not experienced a one-year decline since semiannual publication began in the first half of 1984.

The recreation index rose 7.3 percent since the second half of 2007.  Education and communication prices increased 6.0 percent from their year-ago levels.  Both of these increases were the largest over-the-year advances since the inception of their respective indexes in 1998.

Following a 1.7-percent decline from the first half of 2007 to the first half of 2008, the apparel index increased 6.2 percent over the year.

The other goods and services index, which includes tobacco and smoking products, personal care products and services, and personal services such as legal, funeral, and laundry and dry cleaning services, was 3.0 percent higher than a year ago.

The energy index, which reflects pricing for gasoline and household fuels, advanced 12.9 percent over the year.  Higher prices for utility (piped) gas service (27.1 percent) led the over-the-year increase in energy prices; higher prices for electricity (9.8 percent) and gasoline (8.0 percent) also contributed to the recent 12-month advance in the energy index.

The CPI-U for the Pittsburgh area stood at 213.084 on the 1982-84=100 reference base, which means that a market basket of goods and services which averaged $100.00 in the 1982-84 period would have cost $213.08 in the second half of 2008.

The Pittsburgh, Pa., Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties.

The relative importance of a component of the CPI is its expenditure or value weight expressed as a percentage of all items within an area.  Relative importance ratios show approximately how the index population distributes expenditures when the value weights are collected and represent an estimate of how consumers would distribute their expenditures as prices change over time.  Relative importance ratios cannot be used as estimates of current spending patterns or as indicators of changing consumer expenditures in the intervals between weight revisions because consumption patterns are influenced by factors—including income, variations in climate, family size, and availability of new and different kinds of goods and services—other than price change. (See table A.)