The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Washington-Baltimore area fell 0.7 percent from September to November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the two-month decline was the largest recorded since January 2009. The recent decrease primarily reflected a decline in the energy index, down 7.7 percent. The index for all items less food and energy inched down 0.1 percent, while the food index rose 0.4 percent. Lower prices for lodging away from home and apparel led the decrease in the all items less food and energy group over the last two months. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, two-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 2.1 percent due largely to a 2.3-percent advance in prices for all items less food and energy. (See chart 1 and table A.) Higher prices for food (1.6 percent) and energy (0.6 percent) also contributed to the overall rise since November 2011. (See table 1.)

Food

The food index rose 0.4 percent over the last two months as prices for its two components—food at home and food away from home—also recorded 0.4-percent increases. Within the food at home component, higher prices for chicken and milk, among other items, were moderated by lower prices for various items including snacks and citrus fruits.

Since last November, the food index rose 1.6 percent, led by higher prices for food away from home, up 3.6 percent. The food at home index was also higher than a year ago, edging up 0.2 percent.

Energy

The energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, fell 7.7 percent since September—the largest decrease since January 2009—due mostly to a 9.2-percent drop in gasoline prices. Also contributing to lower energy prices was an 8.4-percent seasonal decrease in electricity prices over the last two months. Prices for utility (piped) gas service rose 3.4 percent from September to November.

Energy prices rose 0.6 percent over the year due to a 3.0-percent price increase for the gasoline component. Moderating the over-the-year advance in the energy index were declines in prices for electricity (-1.4 percent) and utility (piped) gas service (-3.9 percent).

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy inched down 0.1 percent since September—the first two-month decrease in three years. Lower prices for lodging away from home contributed to the decline, as did a 4.0-percent seasonal decrease in apparel prices. Higher prices for several components helped to moderate the decrease in the all items less food and energy index, including those for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (0.5 percent).

Since last November, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.3 percent. The advance was due in part to higher shelter prices, particularly those for owners’ equivalent rent of residences, up 3.4 and 3.2 percent, respectively, over the year.

The January 2013 Consumer Price Index for Washington-Baltimore is scheduled to be released on February 21, 2013, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Table A. Washington-Baltimore CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2007		2008		2009		2010		2011		2012
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
January	0.5	2.9	0.8	4.9	-0.7	1.0	0.3	2.6	1.0	2.3	0.4	2.7
March	1.5	4.1	1.3	4.7	0.7	0.4	0.4	2.3	1.2	3.0	1.3	2.8
May	0.8	3.2	1.1	5.0	0.5	-0.2	0.2	1.9	1.0	3.9	0.1	1.8
July	1.1	2.9	1.7	5.7	1.1	-0.9	0.0	0.8	0.1	4.1	-0.2	1.4
September	0.2	3.4	0.0	5.5	0.1	-0.8	0.5	1.3	-0.1	3.4	1.3	2.8
November	0.4	4.5	-2.5	2.5	-0.2	1.6	0.1	1.6	-0.1	3.3	-0.7	2.1

 

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 88 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 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/homch17_a.htm.

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 Washington-Baltimore, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va., Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) includes the District of Columbia; Baltimore City and the counties of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Calvert, Carroll, Charles, Frederick, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, Prince George’s, Queen Anne’s, and Washington in Maryland; the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park and the counties of Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, King George, Loudoun, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren in Virginia; and the counties of Berkeley and Jefferson in West Virginia.

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, Washington-Baltimore, D.C.-Md.-Va.-W.Va. (December 1997=100 unless otherwise noted)

Expenditure category	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Sep. 2012	Oct. 2012	Nov. 2012	Nov. 2011	Sep. 2012	Oct. 2012
All items (1)	151.732	-	150.646	2.1	-0.7	-
Food and beverages (1)	148.877	-	149.468	1.7	0.4	-
Food (1)	150.671	-	151.278	1.6	0.4	-
Food at home	144.514	145.388	145.149	0.2	0.4	-0.2
Food away from home (2)	155.817	-	156.367	3.6	0.4	-
Alcoholic beverages (2)	125.038	-	125.443	1.9	0.3	-
Housing (1)	160.003	-	159.445	2.7	-0.3	-
Shelter	168.468	168.636	168.598	3.4	0.1	0.0
Rent of primary residence (1) (3)	186.463	187.625	187.978	4.5	0.8	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of residences (3)	168.062	168.465	168.875	3.2	0.5	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (3)	168.050	168.453	168.864	3.2	0.5	0.2
Fuels and utilities	181.650	-	173.413	-0.7	-4.5	-
Household energy	176.987	169.222	167.053	-2.2	-5.6	-1.3
Energy services (3)	168.227	160.262	158.077	-2.1	-6.0	-1.4
Electricity (3)	178.649	168.855	163.597	-1.4	-8.4	-3.1
Utility (piped) gas service (3)	119.837	117.692	123.897	-3.9	3.4	5.3
Household furnishings and operations	93.506	-	93.953	0.5	0.5	-
Apparel (1)	103.602	-	99.505	-0.6	-4.0	-
Transportation (1)	154.732	-	150.402	1.5	-2.8	-
Private transportation	154.602	-	149.930	1.4	-3.0	-
Motor fuel	320.269	310.240	291.111	3.0	-9.1	-6.2
Gasoline (all types)	320.238	310.017	290.652	3.0	-9.2	-6.2
Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)	326.272	315.326	295.121	2.8	-9.5	-6.4
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4)	315.076	306.240	287.746	3.4	-8.7	-6.0
Gasoline, unleaded premium (4)	314.712	306.328	289.359	3.7	-8.1	-5.5
Medical care (1)	162.260	-	163.847	4.7	1.0	-
Recreation	114.834	-	114.605	1.5	-0.2	-
Education and communication	143.183	-	141.491	0.8	-1.2	-
Other goods and services (1)	173.047	-	174.636	0.7	0.9	-
Commodity and service group
Commodities	132.277	-	130.127	0.6	-1.6	-
Commodities less food and beverages	122.725	-	119.232	0.0	-2.8	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	160.051	-	153.240	1.1	-4.3	-
Durables	83.618	-	83.356	-1.8	-0.3	-
Services	164.508	-	164.179	2.9	-0.2	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care (1)	151.081	-	149.830	1.9	-0.8	-
All items less shelter	143.258	-	141.602	1.4	-1.2	-
Commodities less food	122.953	-	119.602	0.1	-2.7	-
Nondurables	153.686	-	150.609	1.4	-2.0	-
Nondurables less food	157.234	-	150.962	1.2	-4.0	-
Services less rent of shelter	160.862	-	159.987	2.3	-0.5	-
Services less medical care services	164.776	-	164.220	2.7	-0.3	-
Energy (1)	237.851	229.176	219.608	0.6	-7.7	-4.2
All items less energy	145.428	-	145.357	2.2	0.0	-
All items less food and energy (1)	145.511	-	145.333	2.3	-0.1	-
Footnotes (1) For Washington-Baltimore, indexes on a November 1996=100 base. (2) For Washington-Baltimore, indexes on a November 1997=100 base. (3) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. - Data not available. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.