Prices in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), fell 0.1 percent for the two months ending in January 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the energy index declined 6.7 percent, almost entirely due to falling gasoline prices. The food index increased 1.2 percent over the past two months. The all items less food and energy index advanced 0.1 percent, largely due to higher prices for shelter. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U was up 3.5 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.1 percent, while food prices increased 3.2 percent over the year. Energy prices fell 6.0 percent, almost entirely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, January 2021–January 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jan 2021	0.4	0.4
Mar 2021	1.6	0.7
May 2021	3.2	1.8
Jul 2021	3.5	2.4
Sep 2021	4.5	3.1
Nov 2021	6.5	5.2
Jan 2022	7.9	7.0
Mar 2022	9.1	8.0
May 2022	8.3	7.1
Jul 2022	8.2	6.6
Sep 2022	7.7	7.2
Nov 2022	6.9	6.7
Jan 2023	6.4	5.9
Mar 2023	5.7	5.6
May 2023	5.1	5.6
Jul 2023	4.7	5.8
Sep 2023	5.4	5.4
Nov 2023	4.5	4.8
Jan 2024	3.5	4.1

Food prices advanced 1.2 percent for the two months ending in January. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) increased 1.5 percent, while the index for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 0.9 percent over the same period. Among grocery store components, the index for nonalcoholic beverage and beverage materials contributed most to the rise (+3.8 percent), but all six major grocery store group indexes were up over the two-month period.  

Over the year, food prices increased 3.2 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 6.7 percent, and prices for food at home advanced 1.0 percent over the year. An increase in the index for fruits and vegetables (+4.3 percent) drove most of the rise in the food at home index, while a decline in the prices paid for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (-1.3 percent) partially offset the increase.

The energy index fell 6.7 percent for the two months ending in January. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-16.0 percent), but price decreases for natural gas service also contributed. Prices for electricity advanced 3.4 percent over the two-month period.

From January 2023 to January 2024, energy prices fell 6.0 percent, entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-22.0 percent). Partially offsetting the decline, the index for natural gas service and the index for electricity (+1.9 percent) rose during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.1 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.5 percent), rent of primary residence (+1.4 percent), and recreation (+1.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for medical care services, used cars and trucks (-3.8 percent), and public transportation.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.1 percent. Components contributing most to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+7.2 percent), rent of primary residence (+5.2 percent), medical care commodities, and tuition, other school fees, and childcare (+7.9 percent). Partly offsetting the advances were declines in prices paid for apparel (-6.6 percent) and used cars and trucks (-4.7 percent).

The March 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 10, 2024.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures 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 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, Core Based Statistical Area is comprised of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Jefferson, and Park counties in Colorado.

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