Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.8 percent in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The May increase was influenced by higher prices for new and used motor vehicles and gasoline. (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 advanced 4.7 percent. This is the largest 12-month increase since a 4.9 percent increase for the period ending August 2008. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices rose 3.3 percent. Energy prices jumped 28.2 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.3 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 0.5 percent for the month of May. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home rose 0.5 percent, influenced by higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (1.9 percent). Prices for food away from home also rose 0.5 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 3.3 percent. Prices for food at home rose 2.0 percent since a year ago, led by higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (5.0 percent). Prices for food away from home advanced 4.9 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 3.2 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (3.9 percent). Prices for natural gas service increased 6.3 percent, and prices for electricity rose 1.4 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 28.2 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (49.5 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service increased 6.9 percent, and prices for electricity rose 6.6 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.7 percent in May. Higher prices for new and used motor vehicles (3.7 percent), household furnishings and operations (1.7 percent), and shelter (0.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-0.7 percent) and medical care (-0.4 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 3.3 percent. Components contributing to the increase included motor vehicle insurance (17.1 percent), new and used motor vehicles (14.3 percent), and shelter (1.8 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in medical care commodities (-2.1 percent).

Table A. West region 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	0.5	2.5	0.5	3.1	0.2	2.7	0.3	2.9	0.2	1.4
February	0.6	3.0	0.5	3.1	0.2	2.4	0.4	3.1	0.5	1.6
March	0.3	3.1	0.4	3.2	0.4	2.4	-0.2	2.5	0.7	2.4
April	0.3	2.9	0.4	3.2	0.8	2.9	-0.4	1.3	1.0	3.9
May	0.2	2.6	0.5	3.5	0.5	2.9	0.1	0.8	0.8	4.7
June	0.0	2.5	0.2	3.6	0.0	2.7	0.4	1.2
July	0.1	2.5	0.1	3.6	0.0	2.7	0.5	1.7
August	0.2	2.7	0.2	3.6	0.1	2.6	0.3	1.9
September	0.5	2.9	0.3	3.4	0.3	2.6	0.0	1.6
October	0.3	2.9	0.4	3.5	0.5	2.8	0.2	1.2
November	0.0	3.1	-0.2	3.3	-0.1	2.8	0.0	1.4
December	0.1	3.1	-0.2	3.1	-0.2	2.8	-0.1	1.5

The June 2021 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on July 13, 2021.

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 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: (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-
	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021	May 2021	May 2020	Mar. 2021	Apr. 2021
Expenditure category
All Items	280.625	283.507	285.793	4.7	1.8	0.8
All items (December 1977=100)	453.614	458.273	461.969
Food and beverages	282.539	284.355	285.813	3.2	1.2	0.5
Food	282.984	284.914	286.396	3.3	1.2	0.5
Food at home	264.033	266.730	268.142	2.0	1.6	0.5
Cereals and bakery products	270.165	269.249	272.227	0.1	0.8	1.1
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	285.621	288.847	294.224	5.0	3.0	1.9
Dairy and related products	243.666	247.295	246.958	1.5	1.4	-0.1
Fruits and vegetables	342.914	349.697	348.399	2.0	1.6	-0.4
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	187.960	191.764	189.598	0.6	0.9	-1.1
Other food at home	221.830	222.444	224.171	1.4	1.1	0.8
Food away from home	307.658	308.522	310.095	4.9	0.8	0.5
Alcoholic beverages	273.293	273.669	274.803	1.6	0.6	0.4
Housing	311.022	312.588	314.363	2.3	1.1	0.6
Shelter	358.434	360.206	361.317	1.8	0.8	0.3
Rent of primary residence(1)	383.015	383.676	384.865	1.5	0.5	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)(2)	378.007	378.360	379.821	1.8	0.5	0.4
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	377.971	378.321	379.768	1.8	0.5	0.4
Fuels and utilities	327.513	329.032	334.314	5.7	2.1	1.6
Household energy	277.188	279.181	285.816	6.8	3.1	2.4
Energy services(1)	279.092	281.445	288.277	6.7	3.3	2.4
Electricity(1)	312.934	317.385	321.911	6.6	2.9	1.4
Utility (piped) gas service(1)	215.606	212.777	226.090	6.9	4.9	6.3
Household furnishings and operations	138.858	139.702	142.072	3.2	2.3	1.7
Apparel	114.734	116.236	115.403	5.8	0.6	-0.7
Transportation	223.648	232.073	239.342	19.6	7.0	3.1
Private transportation	222.390	229.708	236.544	20.1	6.4	3.0
New and used motor vehicles(3)	104.453	109.175	113.190	14.3	8.4	3.7
New vehicles	150.926	151.248	153.721	3.0	1.9	1.6
New cars and trucks(3)(4)	104.850	105.067	106.777	3.0	1.8	1.6
New cars(4)	148.892	148.679
Used cars and trucks	148.563	162.090	172.779	30.0	16.3	6.6
Motor fuel	275.493	285.588	296.579	48.9	7.7	3.8
Gasoline (all types)	274.640	284.730	295.859	49.5	7.7	3.9
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	271.134	281.215	292.570	50.8	7.9	4.0
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	262.995	272.745	282.733	45.5	7.5	3.7
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	271.228	280.653	290.072	44.1	6.9	3.4
Motor vehicle insurance(6)	837.972	837.169	844.423	17.1	0.8	0.9
Medical Care	541.390	544.218	542.235	0.7	0.2	-0.4
Medical care commodities	410.237	420.757	420.523	-2.1	2.5	-0.1
Medical care services	581.993	582.389	579.856	1.3	-0.4	-0.4
Professional services	375.957	375.933	375.704	2.7	-0.1	-0.1
Recreation(3)	116.717	117.684	118.207	1.0	1.3	0.4
Education and communication(3)	139.985	140.214	140.499	1.3	0.4	0.2
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(6)	1,506.734	1,507.049	1,509.779	0.8	0.2	0.2
Other goods and services	472.339	473.215	473.656	3.0	0.3	0.1
Commodity and Service Group
All Items	280.625	283.507	285.793	4.7	1.8	0.8
Commodities	195.466	198.575	201.311	8.1	3.0	1.4
Commodities less food & beverages	152.981	156.428	159.513	11.7	4.3	2.0
Nondurables less food & beverages	199.814	203.642	205.780	13.9	3.0	1.0
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	259.550	264.997	269.177	16.5	3.7	1.6
Durables	110.303	113.199	116.574	9.5	5.7	3.0
Services	359.550	362.045	363.731	2.7	1.2	0.5
Rent of shelter(2)	381.786	383.683	384.873	1.8	0.8	0.3
Transportation services	310.120	322.115	328.552	12.0	5.9	2.0
Other services	368.095	369.206	370.264	1.0	0.6	0.3
Special aggregate indexes:
All items less medical care	268.736	271.611	274.068	5.0	2.0	0.9
All items less food	280.385	283.425	285.844	4.9	1.9	0.9
All items less shelter	250.091	253.404	256.148	6.3	2.4	1.1
Commodities less food	157.422	160.809	163.864	11.2	4.1	1.9
Nondurables	241.273	244.141	245.959	7.6	1.9	0.7
Nondurables less food	205.335	208.950	211.029	12.7	2.8	1.0
Nondurables less food and apparel	260.654	265.557	269.409	14.7	3.4	1.5
Services less rent of shelter(2)	371.518	375.052	377.557	3.9	1.6	0.7
Services less medical care services	344.054	346.683	348.647	2.8	1.3	0.6
Energy	280.792	287.601	296.918	28.2	5.7	3.2
All items less energy	282.978	285.618	287.446	3.3	1.6	0.6
All items less food and energy	283.772	286.547	288.442	3.3	1.6	0.7
Commodities less food and energy commodities	144.411	147.135	149.384	5.9	3.4	1.5
Energy commodities	280.696	290.608	301.631	48.2	7.5	3.8
Services less energy services	365.594	368.108	369.511	2.5	1.1	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) Indexes 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. (6) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base.
- Data not available 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.