The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Chicago-Gary-Kenosha area increased 0.4 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that energy prices increased 1.1 percent and food prices increased 0.7 percent in August. The all items less food and energy index rose 0.3 percent over the month. Among the indexes within the all items less food and energy category, prices rose for apparel and shelter in August. (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 Chicago area all items CPI-U edged down 0.1 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The energy index fell 15.4 percent over the year due to falling gasoline prices and utility (piped) gas service costs. The all items less food and energy index was 1.2 percent higher over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 0.7 percent in August following a 0.3 percent increase in July. Of the two components within the food index, prices for food at home (groceries) rose 1.0 percent while prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 0.2 percent over the month. Within the food at home group, categories experiencing increases included eggs, lettuce, and bananas. In contrast, prices were lower for uncooked ground beef and uncooked beef steaks.

From August 2014 to August 2015, the food index increased 2.6 percent. Grocery food prices rose 1.8 percent over the year, while prices for food eaten away from home increased 3.7 percent from the previous August.

Energy

The energy index was up 1.1 percent in August, due to a 1.0 percent increase in gasoline prices.  The indexes for electricity and utility (piped) gas service increased 1.1 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively, from July to August.

On an annual basis, the Chicago area energy index declined 15.4 percent due to a 16.2 percent decrease in gasoline prices and a 29.3 percent decrease in utility (piped) gas service costs. The electricity index fell 0.6 percent over the year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy was up 0.3 percent in August. Among the index’s components, prices were higher for apparel (6.1 percent) and shelter (0.1 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.2 percent. Annual increases in the indexes for shelter (2.2 percent) and medical care (2.7 percent) were the major contributing factors. In contrast, apparel prices were down 3.9 percent.

Table A. Chicago CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2011		2012		2013		2014		2015
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.6	1.4	0.6	2.1	0.2	1.2	0.9	1.2	-0.2	0.4
February	0.5	1.8	0.0	1.6	1.1	2.3	0.5	0.7	0.0	-0.2
March	0.8	2.3	1.2	2.1	-0.1	0.9	1.1	1.9	0.7	-0.6
April	0.4	2.7	0.0	1.7	0.0	0.9	0.5	2.4	0.1	-0.9
May	0.6	3.3	-0.1	1.0	0.5	1.5	-0.1	1.8	0.3	-0.5
June	0.0	3.8	-0.1	0.9	0.1	1.7	0.4	2.0	0.2	-0.7
July	-0.4	3.2	-0.2	1.1	-0.2	1.7	-0.4	1.9	-0.1	-0.5
August	0.2	3.2	0.6	1.5	0.1	1.1	0.1	1.9	0.4	-0.1
September	0.2	3.1	0.3	1.6	-0.2	0.7	0.0	2.1
October	-0.2	2.9	-0.2	1.7	-0.3	0.5	-0.4	2.0
November	-0.2	2.9	-0.4	1.5	-0.3	0.6	-0.8	1.6
December	-0.5	2.1	-0.3	1.7	-0.3	0.5	-0.4	1.5

The September 2015 Consumer Price Index for Chicago is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 15, 2015.

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 6,000 housing units and approximately 24,000 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 Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

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

Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Jun. 2015	Jul. 2015	Aug. 2015	Aug. 2014	Jun. 2015	Jul. 2015
Expenditure category
All items	228.837	228.588	229.527	-0.1	0.3	0.4
All items (1967=100)	683.671	682.925	685.732	-	-	-
Food and beverages	240.623	241.342	242.903	2.3	0.9	0.6
Food	240.348	241.147	242.809	2.6	1.0	0.7
Food at home	237.049	238.284	240.679	1.8	1.5	1.0
Food away from home	239.574	239.735	240.318	3.7	0.3	0.2
Alcoholic beverages	242.970	242.506	242.577	-1.9	-0.2	0.0
Housing	231.882	232.275	232.650	0.5	0.3	0.2
Shelter	288.019	288.348	288.675	2.2	0.2	0.1
Rent of primary residence (1)	305.505	306.063	306.620	3.5	0.4	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	292.567	293.019	293.746	2.5	0.4	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	292.567	293.019	293.746	2.5	0.4	0.2
Fuels and utilities	196.390	196.291	198.021	-9.1	0.8	0.9
Household energy	159.390	159.334	161.170	-14.4	1.1	1.2
Energy services (1)	162.367	162.332	164.248	-14.4	1.2	1.2
Electricity (1)	162.951	161.749	163.539	-0.6	0.4	1.1
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	146.285	147.867	149.779	-29.3	2.4	1.3
Household furnishings and operations	95.712	96.654	96.302	-0.9	0.6	-0.4
Apparel	86.902	86.532	91.786	-3.9	5.6	6.1
Transportation	193.672	190.042	189.972	-5.1	-1.9	0.0
Private transportation	190.499	187.814	187.518	-5.0	-1.6	-0.2
Motor fuel	277.470	264.394	266.987	-16.3	-3.8	1.0
Gasoline (all types)	274.695	261.715	264.342	-16.2	-3.8	1.0
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)	267.733	254.318	256.764	-17.0	-4.1	1.0
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)	294.639	283.318	285.511	-14.2	-3.1	0.8
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)	278.413	269.855	274.296	-11.1	-1.5	1.6
Medical care	463.984	463.774	464.167	2.7	0.0	0.1
Recreation (5)	109.725	110.086	110.219	0.2	0.5	0.1
Education and communication (5)	141.275	142.080	142.212	0.0	0.7	0.1
Other goods and services	383.121	381.913	383.469	-0.2	0.1	0.4
Commodity and service group
All items	228.837	228.588	229.527	-0.1	0.3	0.4
Commodities	170.113	169.318	171.050	-1.9	0.6	1.0
Commodities less food & beverages	133.875	132.446	134.196	-5.0	0.2	1.3
Nondurables less food & beverages	177.605	174.838	178.386	-7.0	0.4	2.0
Durables	92.004	91.842	91.891	-1.1	-0.1	0.1
Services	284.470	284.735	284.927	1.0	0.2	0.1
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	218.769	218.517	219.482	-0.4	0.3	0.4
All items less shelter	209.005	208.549	209.710	-1.2	0.3	0.6
Commodities less food	137.950	136.536	138.255	-4.9	0.2	1.3
Nondurables	210.099	208.965	211.608	-2.1	0.7	1.3
Nondurables less food	182.187	179.528	182.909	-6.7	0.4	1.9
Services less rent of shelter (2)	295.496	295.702	295.760	-0.3	0.1	0.0
Services less medical care services	270.843	271.137	271.310	0.7	0.2	0.1
Energy	204.979	199.859	201.985	-15.4	-1.5	1.1
All items less energy	232.916	233.130	233.963	1.4	0.4	0.4
All items less food and energy	232.392	232.497	233.181	1.2	0.3	0.3
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.