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Consumer Price Index
Bureau of Labor Statistics > Consumer Price Index > About > Notices

More information on CPI collection reductions

To align survey workload with resource levels, BLS suspended data collection for portions of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) sample in select areas across the country starting in April. In April, BLS suspended CPI data collection entirely in Lincoln, NE and Provo, UT. In June, BLS suspended collection entirely in Buffalo, NY.  Roughly 15 percent of the sample in the other 72 areas also was suspended from collection, on average. Collection suspension affects both the Commodity and Services Pricing survey and the Housing survey. As a result, the number of collected prices and the number of collected rents used to calculate the CPI has temporarily been reduced.

BLS conducted a statistical analysis on the impact of collection suspension by simulating the suspension back to 2018 for Buffalo, Lincoln, and Provo samples. Over the January 2019 to May 2025 period, the simulated All items, U.S. City Average, 12-month percent change estimates differed from the published CPI for all urban consumers (CPI-U) estimates by less than 1/100th of a percentage point on average. At published precision, the 12-month percent change estimate equals the official CPI-U estimate in 52 of the 77 months of the study period, is higher by 1/10th in 14 months, and is lower by 1/10th in 11 months.

The volatility of subnational and sub-aggregate item indexes also is impacted by the collection suspensions. BLS did not measure the impact of collection suspensions on subnational and item indexes.

BLS will continue to evaluate survey operations and efficiently assign available resources to data collection in a manner that minimizes overall CPI measurement error.

Last Modified Date: July 29, 2025