The Cleveland-Akron, Ohio, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) declined 0.6 percent from September to November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that food prices edged down 0.1 percent and energy costs fell 7.3 percent over the bi-monthly period. The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.1 percent. Within this last category, costs were higher for medical care over the two-month period. Costs for new and used motor vehicles and household furnishings and operations were lower in November compared to September. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the past 12 months the Cleveland area all items CPI-U rose 1.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The energy index declined 2.8 percent from its November 2013 level due to a decrease in gasoline prices over the year. The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent over the past 12 months. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices edged down 0.1 percent from September to November following a 0.4-percent increase over the previous bi-monthly period. Between the food index’s two components, prices for food at home (groceries) fell 1.0 percent, while food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) prices rose 1.2 percent from September to November. Over the year, food at home prices were up 2.2 percent while prices for food away from home rose 2.9 percent. Overall food costs rose 2.5 percent from a year ago.

Energy

The energy index fell 7.3 percent from September to November following a 6.4-percent decline over the previous bi-monthly period. In the recent period, declines in costs for gasoline (-13.3 percent), and electricity (-1.6 percent) were contributing factors to the decrease in energy costs.

Over the year, the energy index declined 2.8 percent. Annual increases in costs for electricity (0.8 percent), and utility (piped) gas service (10.5 percent), were more than offset by a 9.2 percent drop in gasoline prices.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.1 percent from September to November. Among the index’s components, increases were recorded in medical care (2.5 percent). Prices were lower among the indexes components for new and used motor vehicles and household furnishings and operations (-1.8 percent) over the bi-monthly period.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent mostly due to a 2.7-percent annual increase in the cost of shelter. Also contributing, but to a lesser extent, were annual gains in costs for apparel (5.0 percent) and medical care (2.2 percent).

Table A. Percent Changes in the CPI-U, Cleveland-Akron (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure Category	Percent changes from preceding 2 months							12 mo. ended Nov. '14
	2013	2014
	Nov.	Jan.	Mar.	May	July	Sep.	Nov.
All items	-0.7	0.3	1.6	0.2	0.5	-0.5	-0.6	1.5
Food & beverages	0.4	0.4	1.2	0.3	0.1	0.4	0.0	2.4
Food	0.3	0.4	1.3	0.3	0.1	0.4	-0.1	2.5
Housing	-0.3	0.7	1.8	0.2	1.8	-1.8	-0.2	2.6
Apparel	-3.3	-4.3	3.5	-3.9	-1.3	13.2	-1.3	5.0
Transportation	-3.5	0.6	2.5	1.3	-1.3	-1.5	-3.5	-2.1
Medical care	-0.1	0.4	1.7	-1.6	-0.1	-0.5	2.5	2.2
Recreation	0.2	-0.1	-0.8	1.4	-0.2	0.3	-0.2	0.5
Education & communication	0.1	-0.3	0.7	-0.1	1.3	-0.5	-0.4	0.7
Other goods & services	1.0	0.5	0.4	1.3	-1.6	-0.3	0.6	0.8
Special Indexes
Energy	-4.8	3.5	8.7	-0.2	-0.2	-6.4	-7.3	-2.8
All items less food & energy	-0.4	-0.1	0.8	0.2	0.6	0.1	0.1	1.8

The January 2015 Consumer Price Index for Cleveland is scheduled to be released on Thursday, February 26, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 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 Cleveland-Akron, Ohio consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Summit Counties in Ohio.

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 and percent changes for selected periods

Cleveland-Akron, OH (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Sep. 2014	Oct. 2014	Nov. 2014	Nov. 2013	Sep. 2014	Oct. 2014
Expenditure category
All items	221.242	-	219.992	1.5	-0.6	-
All items (1967=100)	708.965	-	704.959	-	-	-
Food and beverages	247.172	-	247.067	2.4	0.0	-
Food	252.398	-	252.222	2.5	-0.1	-
Food at home	246.973	249.051	244.567	2.2	-1.0	-1.8
Food away from home	263.766	-	267.019	2.9	1.2	-
Alcoholic beverages	188.642	-	189.372	0.9	0.4	-
Housing	201.076	-	200.750	2.6	-0.2	-
Shelter	230.457	231.235	230.675	2.7	0.1	-0.2
Rent of primary residence (1)	229.370	230.386	229.767	0.6	0.2	-0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	224.719	226.630	226.806	2.2	0.9	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	224.719	226.630	226.806	2.2	0.9	0.1
Fuels and utilities	195.855	-	195.305	4.8	-0.3	-
Household energy	165.105	165.787	164.661	4.6	-0.3	-0.7
Energy services (1)	163.427	163.944	162.773	4.6	-0.4	-0.7
Electricity (1)	165.030	164.013	162.442	0.8	-1.6	-1.0
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	143.800	146.256	145.732	10.5	1.3	-0.4
Household furnishings and operations	120.092	-	117.888	-1.2	-1.8	-
Apparel	142.229	-	140.445	5.0	-1.3	-
Transportation	212.930	-	205.579	-2.1	-3.5	-
Private transportation	215.180	-	205.866	-2.4	-4.3	-
Motor fuel	340.772	319.758	295.352	-9.1	-13.3	-7.6
Gasoline (all types)	336.998	316.206	292.049	-9.2	-13.3	-7.6
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)	326.758	305.804	281.936	-9.9	-13.7	-7.8
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)	345.323	325.260	301.820	-7.6	-12.6	-7.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)	328.224	311.731	289.417	-6.5	-11.8	-7.2
Medical care	391.432	-	401.027	2.2	2.5	-
Recreation (5)	116.475	-	116.274	0.5	-0.2	-
Education and communication (5)	126.195	-	125.742	0.7	-0.4	-
Other goods and services	400.565	-	402.843	0.8	0.6	-
Commodity and service group
All items	221.242	-	219.992	1.5	-0.6	-
Commodities	196.671	-	193.184	0.5	-1.8	-
Commodities less food & beverages	169.639	-	164.896	-0.6	-2.8	-
Nondurables less food & beverages	226.495	-	218.166	-0.3	-3.7	-
Durables	111.230	-	109.562	-1.2	-1.5	-
Services	247.175	-	247.903	2.2	0.3	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	213.377	-	211.662	1.4	-0.8	-
All items less shelter	219.624	-	217.756	0.9	-0.9	-
Commodities less food	170.592	-	166.007	-0.6	-2.7	-
Nondurables	238.150	-	233.704	1.1	-1.9	-
Nondurables less food	223.690	-	215.972	-0.2	-3.5	-
Services less rent of shelter (2)	270.685	-	272.044	1.6	0.5	-
Services less medical care services	236.083	-	236.811	2.6	0.3	-
Energy	231.133	223.915	214.291	-2.8	-7.3	-4.3
All items less energy	222.314	-	222.566	1.9	0.1	-
All items less food and energy	217.178	-	217.500	1.8	0.1	-
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Index is 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.
- Data not available. Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.