Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.9 percent in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The June increase was influenced by higher prices for new and used motor vehicles 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 advanced 5.1 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices advanced 3.3 percent. Energy prices jumped 25.1 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.1 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 0.6 percent for the month of June. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home increased 0.7 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 0.6 percent for the same period, largely due to higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (2.6 percent).

Over the year, food prices advanced 3.3 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 4.8 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 2.1 percent, primarily due to higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (4.1 percent) since a year ago.

Energy

The energy index rose 1.5 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (2.6 percent). Prices for natural gas service advanced 1.0 percent, but prices for electricity edged down 0.2 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 25.1 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (41.2 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service advanced 7.2 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 7.1 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.8 percent in June. Higher prices for new and used motor vehicles (5.9 percent), recreation (1.0 percent), and shelter (0.4 percent), were partially offset by lower prices for household furnishings and operations (-0.9 percent) and medical care (-0.3 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 4.1 percent. Components contributing to the increase included new and used motor vehicles (21.5 percent), apparel (5.9 percent), and shelter (2.2 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in medical care commodities (-2.6 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	0.9	5.1
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 July 2021 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on August 11, 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-
	Apr. 2021	May 2021	Jun. 2021	Jun. 2020	Apr. 2021	May 2021
Expenditure category
All Items	283.507	285.793	288.263	5.1	1.7	0.9
All items (December 1977=100)	458.273	461.969	465.962
Food and beverages	284.355	285.813	287.615	3.2	1.1	0.6
Food	284.914	286.396	288.239	3.3	1.2	0.6
Food at home	266.730	268.142	269.676	2.1	1.1	0.6
Cereals and bakery products	269.249	272.227	271.134	0.7	0.7	-0.4
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	288.847	294.224	301.824	4.1	4.5	2.6
Dairy and related products	247.295	246.958	244.958	1.0	-0.9	-0.8
Fruits and vegetables	349.697	348.399	349.760	1.4	0.0	0.4
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	191.764	189.598	190.854	2.5	-0.5	0.7
Other food at home	222.444	224.171	223.990	1.8	0.7	-0.1
Food away from home	308.522	310.095	312.352	4.8	1.2	0.7
Alcoholic beverages	273.669	274.803	276.072	1.8	0.9	0.5
Housing	312.588	314.363	315.145	2.5	0.8	0.2
Shelter	360.206	361.317	362.727	2.2	0.7	0.4
Rent of primary residence(1)	383.676	384.865	385.176	1.6	0.4	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)(2)	378.360	379.821	381.084	2.1	0.7	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	378.321	379.768	381.031	2.0	0.7	0.3
Fuels and utilities	329.032	334.314	335.277	6.2	1.9	0.3
Household energy	279.181	285.816	286.018	7.4	2.4	0.1
Energy services(1)	281.445	288.277	288.319	7.2	2.4	0.0
Electricity(1)	317.385	321.911	321.124	7.1	1.2	-0.2
Utility (piped) gas service(1)	212.777	226.090	228.262	7.2	7.3	1.0
Household furnishings and operations	139.702	142.072	140.834	1.9	0.8	-0.9
Apparel	116.236	115.403	115.707	5.9	-0.5	0.3
Transportation	232.073	239.342	248.397	21.7	7.0	3.8
Private transportation	229.708	236.544	245.123	22.0	6.7	3.6
New and used motor vehicles(3)	109.175	113.190	119.848	21.5	9.8	5.9
New vehicles	151.248	153.721	157.642	5.9	4.2	2.6
New cars and trucks(3)(4)	105.067	106.777	109.535	6.0	4.3	2.6
New cars(4)	148.679		155.634	5.5	4.7
Used cars and trucks	162.090	172.779	190.639	45.0	17.6	10.3
Motor fuel	285.588	296.579	304.173	40.9	6.5	2.6
Gasoline (all types)	284.730	295.859	303.449	41.2	6.6	2.6
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	281.215	292.570	300.179	42.0	6.7	2.6
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	272.745	282.733	289.837	38.8	6.3	2.5
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	280.653	290.072	297.126	37.6	5.9	2.4
Motor vehicle insurance(6)	837.169	844.423	844.862	10.3	0.9	0.1
Medical Care	544.218	542.235	540.688	0.0	-0.6	-0.3
Medical care commodities	420.757	420.523	417.626	-2.6	-0.7	-0.7
Medical care services	582.389	579.856	578.738	0.6	-0.6	-0.2
Professional services	375.933	375.704	375.654	2.6	-0.1	0.0
Recreation(3)	117.684	118.207	119.441	2.5	1.5	1.0
Education and communication(3)	140.214	140.499	140.538	1.5	0.2	0.0
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(6)	1,507.049	1,509.779	1,514.489	0.9	0.5	0.3
Other goods and services	473.215	473.656	475.949	3.1	0.6	0.5
Commodity and Service Group
All Items	283.507	285.793	288.263	5.1	1.7	0.9
Commodities	198.575	201.311	204.374	8.9	2.9	1.5
Commodities less food & beverages	156.428	159.513	162.903	13.1	4.1	2.1
Nondurables less food & beverages	203.642	205.780	207.632	12.6	2.0	0.9
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	264.997	269.177	272.099	14.7	2.7	1.1
Durables	113.199	116.574	120.586	13.6	6.5	3.4
Services	362.045	363.731	365.436	3.0	0.9	0.5
Rent of shelter(2)	383.683	384.873	386.375	2.2	0.7	0.4
Transportation services	322.115	328.552	335.488	12.2	4.2	2.1
Other services	369.206	370.264	373.204	1.9	1.1	0.8
Special aggregate indexes:
All items less medical care	271.611	274.068	276.697	5.6	1.9	1.0
All items less food	283.425	285.844	288.418	5.5	1.8	0.9
All items less shelter	253.404	256.148	259.030	6.9	2.2	1.1
Commodities less food	160.809	163.864	167.221	12.5	4.0	2.0
Nondurables	244.141	245.959	247.797	7.1	1.5	0.7
Nondurables less food	208.950	211.029	212.849	11.6	1.9	0.9
Nondurables less food and apparel	265.557	269.409	272.153	13.2	2.5	1.0
Services less rent of shelter(2)	375.052	377.557	379.711	4.1	1.2	0.6
Services less medical care services	346.683	348.647	350.537	3.3	1.1	0.5
Energy	287.601	296.918	301.487	25.1	4.8	1.5
All items less energy	285.618	287.446	289.794	4.0	1.5	0.8
All items less food and energy	286.547	288.442	290.888	4.1	1.5	0.8
Commodities less food and energy commodities	147.135	149.384	152.290	8.2	3.5	1.9
Energy commodities	290.608	301.631	309.363	40.6	6.5	2.6
Services less energy services	368.108	369.511	371.317	2.8	0.9	0.5
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.