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Consumer Price Index
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CPI Research Series
In addition to official indexes, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) program produces several other inflation products that may be of interest to particular users. These products differ from the official indexes in purpose, scope, formula, aggregation, or limitations, and may be associated with larger measurement error compared to the official published indexes. Customers should be aware of the caveats and limitations of these products.
These research products are designated with an “R” before the index abbreviation.
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Featured Research Series: R-CPI-E
CPI for Americans 62 years of age and older
The index for Americans 62 years of age and older (R-CPI-E) is a research price index which uses different weights than other CPI indexes. The series is predominately used by researchers, news agencies, and some companies, and has several limitations to the data.
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Featured Research Series: R-CPI-U-RS
Retroactive Series
The Retroactive Series (R-CPI-U-RS), formerly known as the Research Series, uses current methodology to estimate the CPI-U from 1978 to the present by incorporating most of the improvements made over that time span into the entire series. The series is predominately used by researchers and has some limitations.
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Featured Research Series: R-HICP
Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices
The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (R-HICP) is designed for international comparisons of consumer price inflation. The primary users of the U.S. R-HICP indexes are the International Labor Comparisons program, operated by the Conference Board, and Eurostat.
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Featured Research Series: R-COICOP
Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose
The Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (R-COICOP) is provided monthly to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to allow for international comparisons of consumer price index statistics.
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Featured Research Series: R-DBPI
Disease-based price indexes
Disease-based price indexes are research data constructed by the Bureau as an alternative to current methods of estimating inflation, real medical output, and real consumption. Disease-based prices indexes are in their nascent stages and regarded as research indexes as we learn more from the studies that we and others conduct, including most prominently the work of the Bureau of Economic Analysis on a Health Care Satellite Account.
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Featured Research Series: R-CPI-I and R-C-CPI-I
CPI for equivalized income quintile subpopulations
These research indexes by equivalized income quintiles, the R-CPI-EQ and the R-C-CPI-EQ, paint a fuller picture of inflation than the CPI-U and C-CPI-U for users interested in the state of the economy.
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Featured Research Series: R-CPI-SC
CPI for item size changes
Building on the February 2023 Beyond the Numbers (BTN) article “Getting less for the sample price? Explore how the CPI measures "shrinkflation" and its impact on inflation”, BLS created a series of research indexes to estimate the impact of downsizing and upsizing in the CPI beginning with December 2014 data.
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Current Research Series
| Name | Abbreviation | Series type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retroactive Series | R-CPI-U-RS | Historical time series based on current methods | The Retroactive Series (R-CPI-U-RS), formerly known as the Research Series, uses current methodology to estimate the CPI-U from 1978 to the present by incorporating most of the improvements made over that time span into the entire series. The series is predominately used by researchers and has some limitations. See the Retroactive Series homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
| CPI for Americans 62 years of age and older | R-CPI-E | Alternative population group | The index for Americans 62 years of age and older (R-CPI-E) is a research price index which uses different weights than other CPI indexes. The series is predominately used by researchers, news agencies, and some companies, and has several limitations to the data. See the R-CPI-E homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
| Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices | R-HICP | Alternative aggregation structure | The Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (R-HICP) is designed for international comparisons of consumer price inflation. The primary users of the U.S. R-HICP indexes are the International Labor Comparisons program, operated by the Conference Board, and Eurostat. See the R-HICP homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
| Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose | R-COICOP | Alternative aggregation structure | The Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose (R-COICOP) is provided monthly to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to allow for international comparisons of consumer price index statistics. See the R-COICOP homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
| Disease-based price indexes | R-DBPI | Research index for specific categories | Disease-based price indexes are research data constructed by the Bureau as an alternative to current methods of estimating inflation, real medical output, and real consumption. Disease-based price indexes are in their nascent stages and regarded as research indexes as we learn more from the studies that we and others conduct, including most prominently the work of the Bureau of Economic Analysis on a Health Care Satellite Account. See the Disease-Based Price Indexes homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
| CPI for equivalized income quintile subpopulations | R-CPI-I and R-C-CPI-I | Alternative population group | These research indexes by equivalized income quintiles, the R-CPI-I and the R-C-CPI-I, paint a fuller picture of inflation than the CPI-U and C-CPI-U for users interested in the state of the economy. See the R-CPI-I and R-C-CPI-I homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
| CPI without product size changes | R-CPI-SC | Research index for specific categories | The CPI without product size changes (R-CPI-SC) estimates the impact of product size changes (downsizing and upsizing) in the CPI. These research indexes are calculated by imputing price change in the month the product size change occurs instead of using the observed price change. See the R-CPI-SC homepage for additional information and to access the data. |
Discontinued Research Series
| Name | Abbreviation | Series type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| New vehicles research index | R-CPI-U-NV | Alternative collection methods | The new vehicles research index (R-CPI-U-NV) was published from May 2019 to April 2022. This index used a dataset purchased from J.D. Power of transaction-level new vehicle prices. This index methodology was adopted for use in the official CPI. |
| CPI using Laspeyres arithmetic means | R-CPI-U-L | Alternative formula | This index, called the research CPI using Laspeyres arithmetic means (R-CPI-U-L), was discontinued in July 2024. This index used a Laspeyres arithmetic mean formula for all levels of aggregation. This series was predominately used by researchers. |
| CPI using geometric means | R-CPI-U-G | Alternative formula | This index, called the research CPI using geometric means (R-CPI-U-G), was discontinued in July 2024. This index used a geometric mean formula for 100 percent of items to combine individual price quotations at the lower level of aggregation while keeping the Laspeyres arithmetic mean formula for higher level aggregation. This series was predominately used by researchers. |
Last Modified Date: August 20, 2024