Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.6 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The February increase was influenced by higher prices for gasoline and shelter. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 0.9 percent.  (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices dropped 17.5 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.3 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

 

Food

Food prices inched down 0.1 percent for the month of February. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home decreased 0.3 percent, but prices for food away from home rose 0.3 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 3.4 percent. Prices for food at home rose 3.7 percent since a year ago, and prices for food away from home advanced 3.1 percent.

Energy

The energy index advanced 2.8 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (6.2 percent). Prices for electricity inched down 0.1 percent, and prices for natural gas service declined 0.5 percent for the same period.

Energy prices dropped 17.5 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-29.8 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service rose 2.7 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 0.8 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.5 percent in February. The increase was primarily due to higher prices for apparel (1.9 percent), new vehicles (1.2 percent), and shelter (0.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.3 percent. Higher prices for shelter (4.0 percent) and medical care (2.5 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-3.5 percent).

Table A. West Region CPI-U monthly and annual percent changes (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2010		2011		2012		2013		2014		2015
	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual
January	0.3	1.9	0.5	1.4	0.4	2.6	0.3	1.7	0.3	1.7	-0.3	0.7
February	0.1	1.4	0.6	1.9	0.4	2.5	0.8	2.0	0.4	1.3	0.6	0.9
March	0.3	1.6	0.9	2.6	0.9	2.4	0.4	1.5	0.6	1.5
April	0.2	1.5	0.6	3.0	0.2	2.1	0.0	1.3	0.3	1.8
May	0.1	1.3	0.3	3.2	0.2	2.0	0.2	1.3	0.6	2.3
June	-0.1	0.6	-0.2	3.1	-0.2	2.0	0.1	1.5	0.1	2.3
July	0.1	0.8	-0.1	2.9	-0.3	1.8	0.0	1.9	0.1	2.3
August	0.1	0.7	0.2	3.0	0.5	2.1	0.1	1.5	-0.1	2.1
September	-0.1	0.5	0.4	3.5	0.5	2.2	0.2	1.3	0.1	2.0
October	0.1	0.6	0.0	3.4	0.4	2.5	-0.1	0.9	-0.1	2.0
November	0.0	0.9	-0.2	3.2	-0.7	1.9	-0.4	1.3	-0.6	1.7
December	0.2	1.3	-0.3	2.7	-0.5	1.7	0.0	1.8	-0.5	1.3

The March 2015 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on April 17, 2015.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure 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 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 28 percent of the total 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, 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 West Region covered in this release is comprised of the following thirteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods

West (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Dec. 2014	Jan. 2015	Feb. 2015	Feb. 2014	Dec. 2014	Jan. 2015
Expenditure category
All Items	239.095	238.318	239.748	0.9	0.3	0.6
All items (December 1977=100)	386.484	385.227	387.539
Food and beverages	248.679	249.219	249.100	3.3	0.2	0.0
Food	248.803	249.403	249.263	3.4	0.2	-0.1
Food at home	249.592	250.441	249.628	3.7	0.0	-0.3
Food away from home	246.468	246.713	247.524	3.1	0.4	0.3
Alcoholic beverages	243.682	243.463	243.604	1.7	0.0	0.1
Housing	249.072	250.123	251.248	3.4	0.9	0.4
Shelter	281.000	282.147	283.426	4.0	0.9	0.5
Rent of primary residence (1)	294.877	295.927	296.880	4.2	0.7	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	295.058	295.909	296.871	3.6	0.6	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	295.047	295.900	296.862	3.6	0.6	0.3
Fuels and utilities	272.267	274.684	274.760	2.0	0.9	0.0
Household energy	237.907	240.250	239.786	0.4	0.8	-0.2
Energy services (1)	239.150	242.408	241.924	1.3	1.2	-0.2
Electricity (1)	258.855	263.658	263.361	0.8	1.7	-0.1
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	207.308	207.079	206.117	2.7	-0.6	-0.5
Household furnishings and operations	128.131	128.181	129.299	0.3	0.9	0.9
Apparel	116.587	116.559	118.718	1.3	1.8	1.9
Transportation	198.919	190.929	194.638	-8.5	-2.2	1.9
Private transportation	192.744	184.366	188.194	-9.1	-2.4	2.1
New and used motor vehicles (3)	99.351	99.511	100.642	-0.5	1.3	1.1
New vehicles	145.050	145.496	147.272	0.8	1.5	1.2
New cars and trucks (3) (4)	100.847	101.157	102.349	0.8	1.5	1.2
New cars (4)	145.247	145.783	147.203	0.2	1.3	1.0
Used cars and trucks	137.692	137.029	138.644	-3.5	0.7	1.2
Motor fuel	224.945	189.669	200.971	-29.7	-10.7	6.0
Gasoline (all types)	223.075	188.054	199.636	-29.8	-10.5	6.2
Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)	221.296	185.737	197.305	-30.3	-10.8	6.2
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4) (5)	211.919	181.020	192.246	-28.4	-9.3	6.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium (4)	215.594	184.778	195.873	-27.9	-9.1	6.0
Medical Care	446.377	447.286	449.719	2.5	0.7	0.5
Medical care commodities	340.579	341.585	345.317	4.1	1.4	1.1
Medical care services	479.809	480.659	482.519	2.1	0.6	0.4
Professional services	332.813	333.511	336.261	2.0	1.0	0.8
Recreation (3)	109.058	109.062	109.610	0.0	0.5	0.5
Education and communication (3)	138.071	138.286	138.439	0.2	0.3	0.1
Other goods and services	399.426	401.012	401.142	0.8	0.4	0.0
Commodity and Service Group
All Items	239.095	238.318	239.748	0.9	0.3	0.6
Commodities	178.573	176.041	177.717	-2.5	-0.5	1.0
Commodities less food & beverages	143.483	139.773	142.131	-6.3	-0.9	1.7
Nondurables less food & beverages	181.257	173.286	177.077	-9.4	-2.3	2.2
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	226.847	213.492	218.422	-12.7	-3.7	2.3
Durables	108.556	108.712	109.762	-1.4	1.1	1.0
Services	294.763	295.685	296.863	3.0	0.7	0.4
Rent of shelter (2)	298.941	300.156	301.527	3.9	0.9	0.5
Transportation services	278.753	278.242	279.634	1.8	0.3	0.5
Other services	332.790	332.835	333.826	0.9	0.3	0.3
Special aggregate indexes:
All items less medical care	229.595	228.753	230.137	0.8	0.2	0.6
All items less food	237.750	236.753	238.434	0.5	0.3	0.7
All items less shelter	223.389	221.784	223.293	-0.7	0.0	0.7
Commodities less food	147.288	143.659	145.965	-5.9	-0.9	1.6
Nondurables	215.043	210.976	212.975	-2.8	-1.0	0.9
Nondurables less food	185.924	178.377	181.969	-8.6	-2.1	2.0
Nondurables less food and apparel	228.117	216.045	220.507	-11.4	-3.3	2.1
Services less rent of shelter (2)	322.879	323.522	324.581	1.8	0.5	0.3
Services less medical care services	281.909	282.829	283.959	3.1	0.7	0.4
Energy	233.116	214.552	220.630	-17.5	-5.4	2.8
All items less energy	241.484	242.047	243.137	2.5	0.7	0.5
All items less food and energy	240.962	241.520	242.829	2.3	0.8	0.5
Commodities less food and energy commodities	138.982	139.182	140.436	0.0	1.0	0.9
Energy commodities	229.604	193.829	205.085	-29.6	-10.7	5.8
Services less energy services	299.047	299.823	301.110	3.1	0.7	0.4
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Index is on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
Regions defined as the four Census regions. West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.