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News Release Information

17-1017-PHI
Friday, July 14, 2017

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:

Consumer Price Index, Pittsburgh – First Half 2017

Local prices up 2.6 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Pittsburgh area advanced 2.6 percent from the first half of 2016 to the first half of 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the recent advance was due to a 2.5-percent rise in the all items less food and energy index. (See chart 1.) The energy index increased 10.2 percent since the first half of 2016, while the food index declined 0.4 percent.

Food

Food prices decreased 0.4 percent since the first half of 2016. Food at home prices declined 0.5 percent, and those for food away from home inched down 0.1 percent.

Energy

The energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, rose 10.2 percent from the first half of 2016 to the first half of 2017, due mainly to a 16.7-percent increase in gasoline prices. Prices for utility (piped) gas service and electricity also rose over the year, up 15.8 and 1.9 percent, respectively.

All items less food and energy

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.5 percent. The increase was led by higher prices for shelter, up 3.0 percent. Prices were also higher for several other categories including medical care (8.2 percent), and other goods and services (6.2 percent).

The Consumer Price Index for the second half of 2017 is scheduled to be released in January 2018.

Consumer Price Index Geographic Revision for 2018

In January 2018, BLS will introduce a new geographic area sample for the Consumer Price Index (CPI). As part of the new sample, the index for this area will be discontinued. The first indexes using the new structure will be published in February 2018. Additional information on the geographic revision is available at: www.bls.gov/cpi/additional-resources/geographic-revision-2018.htm.


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 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/pdf/homch17.pdf.

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 categoryIndexesPercent change from
 
Historical
data
1st Half
2016
2nd Half
2016
1st Half
2017
1st Half
2016
2nd Half
2016

All items

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SA0
243.000246.118249.2842.61.3
 

Food and beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAF
255.160255.191254.302-0.3-0.3

Food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAF1
254.871254.791253.965-0.4-0.3

Food at home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAF11
250.246247.271248.920-0.50.7

Food away from home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEFV
263.318267.783263.067-0.1-1.8

Alcoholic beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAF116
259.706261.312259.527-0.1-0.7
 

Housing

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAH
244.927248.010252.2933.01.7

Shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAH1
277.851282.229286.3223.01.5

Rent of primary residence(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEHA
237.223240.441244.3353.01.6

Owners' equivalent rent of residences(1)(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEHC
277.946281.849285.1312.61.2

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(1)(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEHC01
277.946281.849285.1312.61.2

Fuels and utilities

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAH2
240.785245.032255.6886.24.3

Household energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAH21
212.755215.799225.4716.04.5

Energy services(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEHF
211.488213.895223.2095.54.4

Electricity(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEHF01
194.960193.968198.6321.92.4

Utility (piped) gas service(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SEHF02
181.312191.719209.89415.89.5

Household furnishings and operations

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAH3
148.720146.495147.679-0.70.8
 

Apparel

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAA
172.414177.586171.673-0.4-3.3
 

Transportation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAT
178.814181.111184.8793.42.1

Private transportation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAT1
174.178177.381180.5303.61.8

Motor fuel

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SETB
198.927215.703232.20916.77.7

Gasoline (all types)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SETB01
201.055218.025234.65816.77.6

Gasoline, unleaded regular(3)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SS47014
195.387212.438228.58517.07.6

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(3)(4)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SS47015
225.258241.883259.80615.37.4

Gasoline, unleaded premium(3)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SS47016
207.408224.040242.66317.08.3
 

Medical care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAM
471.654477.752510.4838.26.9
 

Recreation(5)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAR
121.731123.636121.6970.0-1.6
 

Education and communication(5)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAE
148.032149.734148.9350.6-0.5
 

Other goods and services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAG
446.185466.271473.9316.21.6
 

Commodity and service group

 

Commodities

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAC
199.964202.088204.3012.21.1

Commodities less food and beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SACL11
170.271173.250176.7593.82.0

Nondurables less food and beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SANL11
214.436223.682232.0618.23.7

Durables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAD
122.302120.291119.819-2.0-0.4

Services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAS
287.150291.193295.2522.81.4
 

Special aggregate indexes

 

All items less medical care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SA0L5
231.945234.919236.8922.10.8

All items less shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SA0L2
232.240234.895237.7312.41.2

Commodities less food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SACL1
173.610176.565179.9423.61.9

Nondurables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SAN
235.082239.813243.6493.61.6

Nondurables less food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SANL1
217.583226.392234.1817.63.4

Services less rent of shelter(2)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SASL2RS
303.461307.132311.3782.61.4

Services less medical care services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SASL5
272.957276.828280.6422.81.4

Energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SA0E
213.303222.225235.06610.25.8

All items less energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SA0LE
247.112249.792252.2132.11.0

All items less food and energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUUSA104SA0L1E
246.681249.813252.7652.51.2

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.

 

Last Modified Date: Friday, July 14, 2017