Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.0 percent in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the January increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and apparel. (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 2.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices increased 3.4 percent. Energy prices fell 12.4 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of natural gas service. The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.7 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, January 2021–January 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jan 2021	0.9	0.6
Feb 2021	1.0	0.3
Mar 2021	2.2	0.9
Apr 2021	3.6	1.9
May 2021	3.9	2.1
Jun 2021	4.0	2.3
Jul 2021	3.9	2.3
Aug 2021	4.0	2.3
Sep 2021	4.6	3.0
Oct 2021	5.4	3.4
Nov 2021	6.0	3.6
Dec 2021	6.6	4.4
Jan 2022	7.5	5.5
Feb 2022	7.4	5.9
Mar 2022	8.5	6.2
Apr 2022	7.9	5.8
May 2022	8.0	5.8
Jun 2022	8.6	6.0
Jul 2022	7.7	5.7
Aug 2022	7.6	6.2
Sep 2022	7.8	6.3
Oct 2022	7.5	6.0
Nov 2022	6.0	5.2
Dec 2022	4.9	4.5
Jan 2023	5.8	4.5
Feb 2023	5.1	4.5
Mar 2023	3.7	4.3
Apr 2023	3.8	4.5
May 2023	3.2	4.3
Jun 2023	2.5	4.0
Jul 2023	2.7	3.4
Aug 2023	3.3	3.5
Sep 2023	3.2	3.2
Oct 2023	2.4	2.7
Nov 2023	2.8	2.8
Dec 2023	3.5	3.4
Jan 2024	2.5	3.7

Food prices advanced 0.4 percent for the month of January. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home rose 0.6 percent, led by higher prices for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (2.6 percent). Prices for food away from home advanced 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 3.4 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 2.2 percent since a year ago, with higher prices in five of the six grocery categories. Prices for food away from home rose 5.5 percent.

The energy index declined 1.8 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-3.0 percent). Prices for electricity moved down 0.8 percent, while prices for natural gas service increased 1.6 percent for the same period.

Energy prices fell 12.4 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for natural gas service (-64.7 percent). Prices paid for electricity rose 5.3 percent, and prices for gasoline advanced 2.5 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.3 percent in January. Higher prices for apparel (10.4 percent), household furnishings and operations (4.1 percent), and shelter (0.6 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-3.7 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 3.7 percent. Components contributing to the increase included apparel (7.8 percent), other goods and services (7.0 percent), and shelter (4.8 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in used cars and trucks (-3.5 percent) and medical care (-0.2 percent).

The February 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on March 12, 2024.

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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area includes Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

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

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes				Percent change from-
	Historical data	Nov. 2023	Dec. 2023	Jan. 2024	Jan. 2023	Nov. 2023	Dec. 2023
Expenditure category
All items		323.341	323.456	326.640	2.5	1.0	1.0
All items (1967=100)		955.292	955.632	965.040	-	-	-
Food and beverages		331.608	333.802	335.312	3.4	1.1	0.5
Food		333.581	335.923	337.261	3.4	1.1	0.4
Food at home		318.650	319.805	321.664	2.2	0.9	0.6
Cereals and bakery products		345.380	351.146	349.337	0.1	1.1	-0.5
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		348.506	349.043	348.207	2.5	-0.1	-0.2
Dairy and related products		297.787	302.927	302.835	-0.9	1.7	0.0
Fruits and vegetables		413.305	415.278	419.481	1.1	1.5	1.0
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		306.209	300.440	308.219	3.1	0.7	2.6
Other food at home		258.159	258.853	260.755	4.4	1.0	0.7
Food away from home		345.277	349.499	350.233	5.5	1.4	0.2
Alcoholic beverages		283.023	283.123	287.206	3.6	1.5	1.4
Housing		371.772	372.378	375.856	2.4	1.1	0.9
Shelter		425.376	427.059	429.501	4.8	1.0	0.6
Rent of primary residence(2)		452.420	453.306	454.118	4.6	0.4	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)		442.911	445.317	448.036	5.6	1.2	0.6
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)		442.885	445.292	448.010	5.6	1.2	0.6
Fuels and utilities		477.225	467.928	475.860	-18.1	-0.3	1.7
Household energy		431.533	419.952	418.822	-25.3	-2.9	-0.3
Energy services(2)		429.885	418.283	417.202	-25.4	-3.0	-0.3
Electricity(2)		499.983	500.343	496.375	5.3	-0.7	-0.8
Utility (piped) gas service(2)		332.011	291.498	296.238	-64.7	-10.8	1.6
Household furnishings and operations		129.273	129.068	134.374	2.9	3.9	4.1
Apparel		114.685	115.263	127.262	7.8	11.0	10.4
Transportation		263.655	261.051	261.850	2.4	-0.7	0.3
Private transportation		265.702	263.268	262.944	2.4	-1.0	-0.1
New and used motor vehicles(4)		110.102	111.242	111.770	0.1	1.5	0.5
New vehicles(1)		193.885	193.132	193.458	-0.7	-0.2	0.2
Used cars and trucks(1)		356.071	355.740	342.665	-3.5	-3.8	-3.7
Motor fuel		385.728	360.249	349.563	2.4	-9.4	-3.0
Gasoline (all types)		375.634	350.793	340.400	2.5	-9.4	-3.0
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		376.427	351.222	340.618	2.5	-9.5	-3.0
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		359.110	335.894	326.441	2.5	-9.1	-2.8
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		359.674	337.051	327.729	2.6	-8.9	-2.8
Medical care		546.913	546.364	557.372	-0.2	1.9	2.0
Recreation(6)		121.079	121.374	121.418	0.5	0.3	0.0
Education and communication(6)		158.026	158.821	159.364	2.6	0.8	0.3
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		2,278.167	2,288.732	2,286.263	4.9	0.4	-0.1
Other goods and services		532.414	530.757	537.406	7.0	0.9	1.3
Commodity and service group
All items		323.341	323.456	326.640	2.5	1.0	1.0
Commodities		216.510	215.491	218.074	2.0	0.7	1.2
Commodities less food & beverages		159.210	157.323	160.220	1.2	0.6	1.8
Nondurables less food & beverages		223.276	218.029	223.024	2.1	-0.1	2.3
Durables		100.687	100.569	101.877	0.3	1.2	1.3
Services		418.221	419.503	423.191	2.8	1.2	0.9
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		313.414	313.555	316.435	2.7	1.0	0.9
All items less shelter		278.127	277.532	281.104	1.0	1.1	1.3
Commodities less food		164.533	162.657	165.625	1.3	0.7	1.8
Nondurables		278.830	277.055	280.285	2.8	0.5	1.2
Nondurables less food		229.859	224.865	229.872	2.2	0.0	2.2
Services less rent of shelter(3)		418.936	419.579	425.412	-0.3	1.5	1.4
Services less medical care services		404.908	406.165	409.674	3.1	1.2	0.9
Energy		406.121	386.254	379.289	-12.4	-6.6	-1.8
All items less energy		320.556	321.788	325.517	3.7	1.5	1.2
All items less food and energy		318.392	319.457	323.601	3.7	1.6	1.3
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base. (2) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (3) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (6) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.