Consumer Price Index up 1.6 percent from January 2012 to January 2013

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) was unchanged in January on a seasonally adjusted basis. Over the last 12 months, the all-items index increased 1.6 percent before seasonal adjustment. The 12-month change has been slowing since its recent peak of 2.2 percent in October.

 

The housing index increased 1.8 percent from January 2012 to January 2013. Housing is the largest component of the CPI-U, having risen to 41 percent of expenditures by consumers. The index for transportation, which accounts for 16.8 percent of consumer expenditures, increased 0.7 percent over the year.

The index for food and beverages (which accounts for 15.3 percent of consumer expenditures) increased 1.6 percent from January 2012 to January 2013. Prices for food at home rose 1.1 percent over the year, while prices for food away from home rose 2.3 percent.

The index for medical care (which accounts for 7.2 percent of consumer expenditures) rose 3.1 percent from January 2012 to January 2013.

The index for education and communication (which accounts for 6.8 percent of consumer expenditures) rose 1.6 percent over the year. The index for education rose 4.1 percent, while the index for communication decreased 0.6 percent.

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index — January 2013" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL‑13‑0283. The percent of total consumer expenditures for each category is also called the relative importance of the category.