Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.7 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the March increase was influenced by higher prices for 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 4.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices rose 2.9 percent. Energy prices advanced 3.3 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of electricity. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.3 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, March 2021–March 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Feb 2024	3.4	3.8
Mar 2024	4.0	4.3

Food prices declined 0.2 percent for the month of March. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home decreased 0.1 percent, with lower prices in three of the six grocery categories. Prices for food away from home decreased 0.3 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 2.9 percent. Prices for food at home increased 2.4 percent since a year ago, led by higher prices for other food at home (4.6 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (4.2 percent). Prices for food away from home increased 3.8 percent.

The energy index rose 3.3 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (4.5 percent). Prices for electricity rose 2.1 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 0.5 percent for the same period.

Energy prices advanced 3.3 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for electricity (8.3 percent). Prices paid for gasoline advanced 1.8 percent, while prices for natural gas service decreased 4.5 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.7 percent in March. Higher prices for apparel (3.4 percent) and shelter (0.7 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for education and communication (-0.5 percent) and medical care (-0.3 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 4.3 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (5.6 percent) and medical care (3.1 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in new and used motor vehicles (-1.2 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.4 percent).

The April 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on May 15, 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	Jan. 2024	Feb. 2024	Mar. 2024	Mar. 2023	Jan. 2024	Feb. 2024
Expenditure category
All items		326.640	328.232	330.671	4.0	1.2	0.7
All items (1967=100)		965.040	969.743	976.949	-	-	-
Food and beverages		335.312	335.560	334.781	2.6	-0.2	-0.2
Food		337.261	337.751	337.171	2.9	0.0	-0.2
Food at home		321.664	322.334	322.081	2.4	0.1	-0.1
Cereals and bakery products		349.337	351.618	348.307	-0.8	-0.3	-0.9
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		348.207	352.507	351.201	4.2	0.9	-0.4
Dairy and related products		302.835	296.315	301.916	0.0	-0.3	1.9
Fruits and vegetables		419.481	415.558	417.339	-0.2	-0.5	0.4
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		308.219	303.271	308.188	3.7	0.0	1.6
Other food at home		260.755	265.093	261.826	4.6	0.4	-1.2
Food away from home		350.233	350.514	349.575	3.8	-0.2	-0.3
Alcoholic beverages		287.206	283.712	279.886	-2.3	-2.5	-1.3
Housing		375.856	377.297	379.848	5.1	1.1	0.7
Shelter		429.501	432.052	435.247	5.6	1.3	0.7
Rent of primary residence(2)		454.118	455.850	458.184	4.7	0.9	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)		448.036	450.137	452.337	6.1	1.0	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)		448.010	450.112	452.311	6.1	1.0	0.5
Fuels and utilities		475.860	478.022	483.838	6.1	1.7	1.2
Household energy		418.822	421.506	428.805	5.3	2.4	1.7
Energy services(2)		417.202	419.946	427.220	5.4	2.4	1.7
Electricity(2)		496.375	496.279	506.647	8.3	2.1	2.1
Utility (piped) gas service(2)		296.238	305.093	306.737	-4.5	3.5	0.5
Household furnishings and operations		134.374	131.896	131.272	-0.4	-2.3	-0.5
Apparel		127.262	120.505	124.614	4.3	-2.1	3.4
Transportation		261.850	266.174	273.722	4.5	4.5	2.8
Private transportation		262.944	266.791	274.883	4.6	4.5	3.0
New and used motor vehicles(4)		111.770	110.532	111.055	-1.2	-0.6	0.5
New vehicles(1)		193.458	193.296	192.873	-1.6	-0.3	-0.2
Used cars and trucks(1)		342.665	344.429	346.106	-2.6	1.0	0.5
Motor fuel		349.563	360.451	376.610	1.7	7.7	4.5
Gasoline (all types)		340.400	351.094	367.031	1.8	7.8	4.5
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		340.618	351.507	367.668	1.8	7.9	4.6
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		326.441	336.312	350.968	1.8	7.5	4.4
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		327.729	337.389	352.023	2.0	7.4	4.3
Medical care		557.372	572.628	570.845	3.1	2.4	-0.3
Recreation(6)		121.418	122.119	122.603	1.0	1.0	0.4
Education and communication(6)		159.364	160.535	159.727	2.0	0.2	-0.5
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		2,286.263	2,286.262	2,286.262	4.6	0.0	0.0
Other goods and services		537.406	528.754	529.482	5.0	-1.5	0.1
Commodity and service group
All items		326.640	328.232	330.671	4.0	1.2	0.7
Commodities		218.074	217.585	218.184	0.9	0.1	0.3
Commodities less food & beverages		160.220	159.455	160.586	0.0	0.2	0.7
Nondurables less food & beverages		223.024	222.894	226.103	1.1	1.4	1.4
Durables		101.877	100.869	100.678	-1.4	-1.2	-0.2
Services		423.191	426.740	430.886	5.7	1.8	1.0
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		316.435	317.514	320.097	4.1	1.2	0.8
All items less shelter		281.104	282.256	284.361	3.0	1.2	0.7
Commodities less food		165.625	164.782	165.807	-0.1	0.1	0.6
Nondurables		280.285	280.347	281.534	1.8	0.4	0.4
Nondurables less food		229.872	229.540	232.370	0.8	1.1	1.2
Services less rent of shelter(3)		425.412	430.692	436.505	5.9	2.6	1.3
Services less medical care services		409.674	412.462	416.579	5.9	1.7	1.0
Energy		379.289	386.994	399.743	3.3	5.4	3.3
All items less energy		325.517	326.798	328.712	4.1	1.0	0.6
All items less food and energy		323.601	325.020	327.366	4.3	1.2	0.7
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.