CPI up 2.5 percent in 2006

For the 12-month period ended in December 2006, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 2.5 percent. This compares with an increase of 3.4 percent in 2005.

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Energy costs, which rose sharply in both 2004 and 2005, advanced at a 22.8-percent annual rate in the first half of 2006 before declining at a 13.4-percent annual rate in the second half of the year. Overall energy costs rose 2.9 percent in all of 2006 with the index for petroleum-based energy advancing 6.1 percent, while the index for energy services declined 0.6 percent.

The food index, which rose 2.3 percent in 2005, increased 2.1 percent in 2006. Food at home prices rose 1.4 percent in 2006; the index for dairy products declined 1.2 percent, while the other five major grocery store food groups registered increases of between 0.7 and 3.1 percent.

Excluding food and energy, the CPI-U advanced 2.6 percent in 2006, following increases of 2.2 percent in each of the two preceding years.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index: December 2006" (PDF) (TXT), news release USDL 07-0074.