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News Release Information

25-1599-CHI
Thursday, December 18, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (312) 353-1138

Consumer Price Index, Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area — November 2025

Area prices were up 2.5 percent over the year in November

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Chicago-Naperville-Elgin increased 2.5 percent for the 12 months ending in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Bryan Droste noted that the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.3 percent over the year, and food prices advanced 2.0 percent. Energy prices rose 6.7 percent.

BLS did not collect survey data for October 2025 due to a lapse in appropriations. BLS is unable to retroactively collect these data. For a few indexes, BLS uses nonsurvey data sources instead of survey data to make the index calculations. BLS was able to retroactively acquire most of the nonsurvey data for October. Accordingly, all analysis in this release is over the year and not seasonally adjusted.


Food

Food prices advanced 2.0 percent over the year. The index for food at home (grocery store purchases) increased 0.1 percent, with higher prices in 3 of the 6 major grocery store food groups. The index for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 5.0 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 6.7 percent from November 2024 to November 2025. Over the year, the gasoline index increased 1.4 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.3 percent over the year. Among the index’s components, prices were higher for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+4.7 percent) and rent of primary residences (+5.1 percent). Prices for tuition, other school fees, and childcare declined 6.7 percent.

Federal Government Shutdown

BLS did not collect survey data for October 2025 due to a lapse in appropriations. BLS was unable to retroactively collect these data. For a few indexes, BLS uses nonsurvey data sources instead of survey data to make the index calculations. BLS was able to retroactively acquire most of the nonsurvey data for October. CPI data collection resumed on November 14, 2025.

Additional information about the impact of the shutdown on CPI data is available online.

Changes to health insurance index

With the release of November 2025 data on December 18, 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) removed long-term care (LTC) insurance from the health insurance index. There have been changes in the market for LTC insurance that now make it out of scope and ineligible for pricing in the CPI market basket.

The Consumer Price Index for December 2025 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, January 13, 2026.


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 Consumer Price Index for Chicago is published monthly. The set of components and sub-aggregates published for regional and metropolitan indexes is more limited than at the U.S. city average level; these indexes are byproducts of the national CPI program. Each local index has a much smaller sample size than the national or regional indexes and is, therefore, subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error. As a result, local-area indexes are more volatile than the national or regional indexes. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. 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-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WICore Based Statistical Area includes Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

Refer to the national CPI news release technical note or the Handbook of Methods for more information.

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. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, CPI-U by expenditure category for November 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Expenditure category

Indexes Percent change from:
Historical
data
Sep.
2025
Oct.
2025
Nov.
2025
Nov.
2024
Sep.
2025
Oct.
2025

All items

304.472 - 301.839 2.5 -0.9 -

All items (1967=100)

909.637 - 901.768 - - -

Food and beverages

334.011 - 331.682 1.8 -0.7 -

Food

334.964 - 332.489 2.0 -0.7 -

Food at home

307.420 - 302.169 0.1 -1.7 -

Cereals and bakery products

341.595 - 342.624 1.3 0.3 -

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

343.887 - 343.457 6.1 -0.1 -

Dairy and related products

269.172 - 255.327 -5.3 -5.1 -

Fruits and vegetables

362.320 - 342.297 -4.6 -5.5 -

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

268.495 - 272.567 2.9 1.5 -

Other food at home

251.099 - 246.655 -1.1 -1.8 -

Food away from home

366.143 - 369.149 5.0 0.8 -

Alcoholic beverages

316.619 - 317.096 -0.7 0.2 -

Housing

332.067 - 330.065 4.8 -0.6 -

Shelter

424.272 - 423.002 4.3 -0.3 -

Rent of primary residence

452.973 - 455.203 5.1 0.5 -

Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)

436.123 - 440.057 4.7 0.9 -

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(2)

436.123 - 440.057 4.7 0.9 -

Household furnishings and operations

106.987 - 107.519 4.8 0.5 -

Apparel

99.603 - 90.156 1.1 -9.5 -

Transportation

246.868 - 242.972 -0.2 -1.6 -

Private transportation

250.299 - 245.899 0.2 -1.8 -

New and used motor vehicles(3)

117.535 - 117.321 -0.1 -0.2 -

New vehicles(1)

215.214 215.057 214.783 0.6 -0.2 -0.1

Used cars and trucks(1)

365.504 365.831 365.162 4.0 -0.1 -0.2

Motor fuel

309.490 - 291.260 1.4 -5.9 -

Gasoline (all types)

307.699 287.727 289.243 1.4 -6.0 0.5

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

295.742 275.915 277.469 1.4 -6.2 0.6

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

351.158 332.224 333.119 1.3 -5.1 0.3

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

345.656 329.654 330.388 1.6 -4.4 0.2

Medical care

573.689 - 572.149 0.3 -0.3 -

Recreation(3)

141.897 - 140.331 3.8 -1.1 -

Education and communication(3)

135.450 - 137.580 -4.4 1.6 -

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

1,227.408 - 1,245.588 -6.7 1.5 -

Other goods and services

531.658 - 537.275 5.0 1.1 -

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.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.
NOTE: The October 2025 and November 2025 data values are not available due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

Table 2. Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, CPI-U by special aggregate index for November 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Special aggregate index

Indexes Percent change from:
Historical
data
Sep.
2025
Oct.
2025
Nov.
2025
Nov.
2024
Sep.
2025
Oct.
2025

All items

304.472 - 301.839 2.5 -0.9 -

Food

334.964 - 332.489 2.0 -0.7 -

Energy

260.413 - 245.600 6.7 -5.7 -

All items less food and energy

307.944 - 306.290 2.3 -0.5 -

All items less energy

311.342 - 309.577 2.2 -0.6 -

All items less medical care

293.367 - 290.641 2.7 -0.9 -

All items less shelter

263.831 - 260.794 1.5 -1.2 -

Commodities

205.438 - 202.128 1.4 -1.6 -

Commodities less food

151.412 - 148.082 1.0 -2.2 -

Commodities less food & beverages

145.639 - 142.320 1.1 -2.3 -

Durables

93.919 - 93.986 1.2 0.1 -

Nondurables

267.859 - 262.035 1.5 -2.2 -

Nondurables less food

210.503 - 202.419 0.8 -3.8 -

Nondurables less food & beverages

202.943 - 194.660 0.9 -4.1 -

Services

398.406 - 396.567 3.0 -0.5 -

Services less rent of shelter(1)

390.948 - 388.660 1.8 -0.6 -

Services less medical care services

383.904 - 382.231 3.4 -0.4 -

Footnotes
(1) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.
NOTE: The October 2025 and November 2025 data values are not available due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, December 18, 2025