Prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.3 percent for the second consecutive month in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli attributed the increase to higher prices for food, energy, and other items. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the year, the CPI-U advanced 5.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.4 percent over the year. Energy prices jumped 27.6 percent, driven by gasoline price increases. Food prices rose 6.5 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 0.8 percent in November. Prices for food away from home rose 0.9 percent. Prices for food at home increased 0.7 percent, with four of the six grocery categories recording increases.

Over the year, food prices rose 6.5 percent. Prices for food away from home increased 7.2 percent, while prices for food at home advanced 5.8 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 0.9 percent over the month, with a 3.9-percent advance in gasoline prices. On the other hand, a 3.3-percent decline in electricity prices contributed to a 1.5-percent drop in prices for household energy. Lower electricity charges were partially offset by a 1.4-percent rise in the price of natural gas, marking its sixth consecutive increase.

Energy prices climbed 27.6 percent over the year, primarily due to a 58.1-percent jump in gasoline prices, the largest over-the-year increase in gasoline prices since September 2005. Household energy prices rose 10.6 percent. Within household energy, natural gas prices increased 14.9 percent, and electricity prices rose 2.5 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.2 percent in November. A 0.3-percent increase in shelter prices included increases of 0.2 percent for owners’ equivalent rent and 0.1 percent for residential rent. Other components with November increases included new and used motor vehicles (1.6 percent) and recreation (1.2 percent). These increases were tempered by a seasonal price reduction for apparel (-4.1 percent) and lower prices for other goods and services (-1.6 percent).

From November 2020 to November 2021, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.4 percent. A 16.8-percent rise in prices for new and used motor vehicles included a 31.8-percent jump in prices for used cars and trucks. Prices for shelter increased 1.4 percent. Among shelter components, owners’ equivalent rent rose 1.5 percent, while residential rent ticked down 0.1 percent.

Table A. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.6	2.5	0.4	1.4	0.5	1.6	0.8	2.5	0.4	1.2
February	0.3	2.6	0.5	1.7	0.2	1.3	0.2	2.4	0.3	1.4
March	0.0	2.3	0.0	1.7	0.3	1.6	-0.2	2.0	0.4	2.0
April	0.1	2.0	0.3	1.9	0.3	1.6	-0.5	1.1	0.7	3.2
May	0.1	1.8	0.4	2.2	0.2	1.5	0.5	1.4	0.5	3.2
June	0.2	1.8	0.1	2.0	0.3	1.7	0.1	1.3	1.0	4.1
July	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.2	0.0	1.7	0.5	1.7	-0.1	3.5
August	0.2	1.7	0.1	2.2	0.2	1.8	-0.1	1.4	0.1	3.7
September	0.5	2.1	0.4	2.0	0.0	1.4	0.4	1.9	0.5	3.8
October	-0.2	1.8	-0.1	2.0	0.0	1.5	-0.2	1.7	0.3	4.3
November	-0.1	1.6	-0.2	1.9	0.1	1.8	-0.3	1.4	0.3	5.0
December	0.1	1.6	-0.2	1.6	0.1	2.2	0.4	1.6

The December 2021 Consumer Price Index for the New York-Newark-Jersey City area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 12, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Core Based Statistical Area includes Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties in New York; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

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