Prices in the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), were unchanged for the 2 months ending in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that December had little to no change influenced by lower gasoline prices and higher shelter prices. The energy index declined 4.7 percent, whereas the all items less food and energy index and food index both advanced 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent respectively. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 3.9 percent, led by the index for all items less food and energy, up 4.7 percent due to rising shelter prices. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices also rose, up 3.6 percent. The energy index continued to decline in the latter half of the year, with a 5.4-percent decrease. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, December 2020–December 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Dec 2020	1.1	0.9
Feb 2021	1.0	0.6
Apr 2021	3.5	3.1
Jun 2021	4.9	4.5
Aug 2021	4.6	4.1
Oct 2021	5.6	4.6
Dec 2021	6.6	5.6
Feb 2022	7.3	5.9
Apr 2022	8.4	6.3
Jun 2022	8.8	5.6
Aug 2022	8.1	5.8
Oct 2022	7.8	5.8
Dec 2022	6.4	5.2
Feb 2023	6.9	6.3
Apr 2023	4.7	5.0
Jun 2023	3.1	4.6
Aug 2023	3.9	4.6
Oct 2023	3.5	4.4
Dec 2023	3.9	4.7

For the two months ending in December, the food index rose 0.6 percent with increases in the food at home index (up 0.9 percent). Leading the increase in grocery categories were prices for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (up 7.3 percent) and fruits and vegetables (up 2.5 percent). Tempering the advance were prices for cereals and bakery products (down 2.1 percent), and dairy and related products (down 1.1 percent). The rest of the grocery categories also declined with other food at home down 0.3 percent; and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, down 0.4 percent. The food away from home index was up 0.2 percent.

Over the year, food prices rose 3.6 percent. Prices for food at home rose 3.5 percent. Most of the major grocery categories were up over the year. Leading the increase was the nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials index (up 17.4 percent—the largest 12-month percent change since the index was created) as well as other food at home prices, up 2.4 percent. Prices paid for fruits and vegetables rose 2.5 percent; cereal and bakery products prices increased 1.2 percent; and dairy and related products advanced 1.0 percent. Declining for the fourth consecutive published month, meats, poultry, fish, and eggs was the only category to decrease, down 0.5 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 4.7 percent since a year ago.

The energy index decreased 4.7 percent for the 2 months ending in December. The decline was mainly due to dropping gasoline prices (-7.5 percent). All the major categories were down including the fuel oil index. The electricity index fell 1.9 percent, and utility (piped) gas service declined 4.1 percent for the same period.

Energy prices decreased 5.4 percent over the year, largely due to a lower natural gas index, down 16.4 percent and the largest decline since December 2015.  The gasoline index was down 4.6 percent, and prices paid for fuel oil fell.  The electricity index decreased 1.5 percent, down for the first time since early 2021.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.3 percent in the latest 2-month period. The rise was led by higher prices for shelter (0.6 percent) due largely to the owners’ equivalent rent of residences index (up 1.2 percent), followed by rent of primary residence (up 1.0 percent), while lodging away from home declined. The index for recreation rose 4.4 percent, the largest bi-monthly increase since the index was created in 1998. Prices for medical care were up 0.5 percent as prices for medical care commodities and medical services increased. Other major categories in the all items less food and energy index also advanced: both new and used motor vehicles and other goods and services were up 0.1 percent. Partially offsetting the overall index rise were declines in the apparel (-8.0 percent—the largest decline since December 2018), education and communication (-1.6 percent), household furnishings and operations (-0.7 percent), and prices paid for public transportation.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.7 percent, mainly driven by a 7.2-percent increase in the shelter index. Within shelter, the indexes for owners’ equivalent rent of residences advanced 7.5 percent and rent of primary residence rose 7.1 percent whereas lodging away from home declined. Other categories also had increases—other goods and services rose 11.3 percent; prices for recreation were up 3.8 percent; the household furnishings and operations index advanced 2.3 percent; and education and communication was up 1.0 percent. Slightly tempering the overall increase was the medical care index, down 1.5 percent; prices for used cars and trucks, down 1.3 percent; the apparel index, down 2.9 percent; and a decrease in prices paid for public transportation.

The February 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington area is scheduled to be released on March 12, 2024.

The Consumer Price Index for Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington is published bi-monthly. 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 93 percent of the total U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. 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, 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 75 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 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; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000.  Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods 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 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, Core Based Statistical Area includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Burlington, Camden, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD, (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	Oct. 2023	Nov. 2023	Dec. 2023	Dec. 2022	Oct. 2023	Nov. 2023
All items		306.276		306.386	3.9	0.0
All items (1967 = 100)		884.814		885.133
Food and beverages		295.513		297.129	3.4	0.5
Food		298.064		299.842	3.6	0.6
Food at home		303.087	301.904	305.691	3.5	0.9	1.3
Cereals and bakery products		418.128	411.465	409.270	1.2	-2.1	-0.5
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		332.292	330.974	331.090	-0.5	-0.4	0.0
Dairy and related products		238.582	240.336	235.968	1.0	-1.1	-1.8
Fruits and vegetables		301.286	295.669	308.844	2.5	2.5	4.5
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		204.871	211.318	219.832	17.4	7.3	4.0
Other food at home		292.343	289.470	291.448	2.4	-0.3	0.7
Food away from home		282.847		283.337	3.7	0.2
Alcoholic beverages		256.560		255.743	0.2	-0.3
Housing		325.692		326.394	5.4	0.2
Shelter		401.411	402.017	404.011	7.2	0.6	0.5
Rent of primary residence		376.732	378.026	380.329	7.1	1.0	0.6
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		412.357	414.647	417.246	7.5	1.2	0.6
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		412.357	414.647	417.246	7.5	1.2	0.6
Fuels and utilities		268.105		262.231	-4.6	-2.2
Household energy		220.542	219.915	214.554	-6.0	-2.7	-2.4
Energy services		227.590	226.696	221.904	-6.2	-2.5	-2.1
Electricity		227.542	227.944	223.302	-1.5	-1.9	-2.0
Utility (piped) gas service		210.862	207.041	202.255	-16.4	-4.1	-2.3
Household furnishings and operations		145.579		144.493	2.3	-0.7
Apparel		112.500		103.515	-2.9	-8.0
Transportation		269.873		268.086	3.8	-0.7
Private transportation		280.222		279.668	4.8	-0.2
New and used motor vehicles(3)		134.377		134.562	2.2	0.1
New vehicles(1)		239.277		238.372	1.5	-0.4
Used cars and trucks(1)		346.752		349.301	-1.3	0.7
Motor fuel		332.882	319.070	307.964	-4.6	-7.5	-3.5
Gasoline (all types)		328.534	314.895	303.929	-4.6	-7.5	-3.5
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		322.966	309.043	297.994	-4.8	-7.7	-3.6
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		344.216	333.043	322.393	-4.2	-6.3	-3.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		341.572	330.507	320.831	-3.4	-6.1	-2.9
Medical care		587.828		590.775	-1.5	0.5
Recreation(3)		132.016		137.882	3.8	4.4
Education and communication(3)		138.597		136.416	1.0	-1.6
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,158.191		1,158.191	4.5	0.0
Other goods and services		685.933		686.615	11.3	0.1
Commodity and service group
Commodities		223.443		219.042	0.5	-2.0
Commodities less food and beverages		184.208		177.500	-1.4	-3.6
Nondurables less food and beverages		227.241		217.796	-1.5	-4.2
Durables		133.893		129.835	-1.4	-3.0
Services		389.045		392.907	5.6	1.0
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		273.917		272.956	1.9	-0.4
All items less medical care		294.271		294.269	4.4	0.0
Commodities less food		187.273		180.669	-1.4	-3.5
Nondurables		262.437		258.323	1.2	-1.6
Nondurables less food		229.213		220.233	-1.4	-3.9
Services less rent of shelter(2)		382.522		388.261	3.6	1.5
Services less medical care services		373.548		377.437	6.3	1.0
Energy		262.626	257.732	250.376	-5.4	-4.7	-2.9
All items less energy		313.962		315.111	4.6	0.4
All items less food and energy		319.773		320.832	4.7	0.3
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base (2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.