The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Pittsburgh area advanced 1.1 percent from the second half of 2014 to the second half of 2015, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that this was mostly due to a 2.8-percent rise in the all items less food and energy index. (See chart 1.) The food index also increased since the second half of 2014, up 1.5 percent. These over-the-year increases were moderated by a 14.7-percent decline in the energy index.

 

Food

Food prices advanced 1.5 percent since the second half of 2014, led by a 1.6-percent increase in prices for food at home. Prices for food away from home also rose, up 1.2 percent over the year.

Energy

The energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, fell 14.7 percent from the second half of 2014 to the second half of 2015, due mostly to a 24.7-percent drop in gasoline prices. Prices for utility (piped) gas service declined 15.3 percent, while prices for electricity increased 7.5 percent over the year.

All items less food and energy

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.8 percent. Price increases were led by shelter, up 2.8 percent, particularly the owners’ equivalent rent of residences component, which rose 3.1 percent. Prices were also higher for several other categories including medical care and recreation, up 3.7 and 3.8 percent, respectively.

The Consumer Price Index for the first half of 2016 is scheduled to be released on July 15, 2016.

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 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 28 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/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 Pittsburgh, Pa. metropolitan statistical area covered in this release is comprised of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland Counties in Pennsylvania.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes for semiannual averages and percent changes for selected periods, Pittsburgh, PA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	2nd Half 2014	1st Half 2015	2nd Half 2015	2nd Half 2014	1st Half 2015
All items		239.249	239.232	241.972	1.1	1.1
Food and beverages		251.685	253.727	255.464	1.5	0.7
Food		251.302	253.446	255.130	1.5	0.7
Food at home		247.861	250.170	251.806	1.6	0.7
Food away from home		258.681	260.064	261.828	1.2	0.7
Alcoholic beverages		257.078	257.924	260.287	1.2	0.9
Housing		239.211	241.078	243.792	1.9	1.1
Shelter		268.089	271.328	275.490	2.8	1.5
Rent of primary residence (1)		232.495	232.968	235.923	1.5	1.3
Owners' equivalent rent of residences (1) (2)		266.886	270.838	275.216	3.1	1.6
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence (1) (2)		266.886	270.838	275.216	3.1	1.6
Fuels and utilities		250.513	246.825	243.616	-2.8	-1.3
Household energy		229.977	224.434	219.047	-4.8	-2.4
Energy services (1)		218.774	218.358	216.115	-1.2	-1.0
Electricity (1)		182.393	185.337	196.056	7.5	5.8
Utility (piped) gas service (1)		227.273	220.216	192.543	-15.3	-12.6
Household furnishings and operations		148.479	148.549	149.972	1.0	1.0
Apparel		154.048	150.354	159.920	3.8	6.4
Transportation		192.908	183.089	182.238	-5.5	-0.5
Private transportation		191.135	179.570	178.326	-6.7	-0.7
Motor fuel		300.549	234.225	226.329	-24.7	-3.4
Gasoline (all types)		303.533	236.472	228.603	-24.7	-3.3
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)		300.383	233.077	223.693	-25.5	-4.0
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)		326.187	256.035	252.265	-22.7	-1.5
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)		292.338	231.662	229.687	-21.4	-0.9
Medical care		449.069	463.968	465.732	3.7	0.4
Recreation (5)		115.930	117.018	120.344	3.8	2.8
Education and communication (5)		146.310	147.150	147.618	0.9	0.3
Other goods and services		410.828	418.442	441.639	7.5	5.5
Commodity and service group
Commodities		205.905	200.652	201.552	-2.1	0.4
Commodities less food and beverages		180.472	171.969	172.464	-4.4	0.3
Nondurables less food and beverages		235.160	216.670	216.859	-7.8	0.1
Durables		122.666	123.218	123.942	1.0	0.6
Services		275.645	279.737	284.038	3.0	1.5
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		228.985	228.359	231.119	0.9	1.2
All items less shelter		231.041	229.605	231.785	0.3	0.9
Commodities less food		183.367	175.178	175.738	-4.2	0.3
Nondurables		243.929	235.510	236.463	-3.1	0.4
Nondurables less food		236.617	219.487	219.828	-7.1	0.2
Services less rent of shelter (2)		289.943	294.801	299.669	3.4	1.7
Services less medical care services		263.183	266.121	270.267	2.7	1.6
Energy		268.833	235.896	229.216	-14.7	-2.8
All items less energy		238.455	241.129	244.675	2.6	1.5
All items less food and energy		237.177	239.945	243.803	2.8	1.6
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series converted to a geometric means estimator in January 1999. (2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (5) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
Note: Index applies to a 6-month period as a whole, not to any specific date.