Prices in the Midwest Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.5 percent in January, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The January increase was most influenced by higher prices for energy, although prices for food and for all items less food and energy also rose. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 1.2 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy also rose 1.2 percent over the year and food prices increased 3.1 percent. In contrast, energy prices declined 3.0 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 0.6 percent for the month of January. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 0.9 percent and prices for food away from home rose 0.3 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 3.1 percent. Prices for food at home increased 3.0 percent since a year ago, and prices for food away from home increased 3.1 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 4.6 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (8.7 percent). Prices for electricity increased 0.9 percent and prices for natural gas service were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices declined 3.0 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-8.5 percent). In contrast, prices paid for natural gas service rose 5.6 percent and prices for electricity advanced 1.4 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy crept up 0.1 percent in January. Higher prices for apparel (3.7 percent) and medical care (0.9 percent) were mostly offset by lower prices for new and used motor vehicles (-2.5 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 1.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (1.5 percent), medical care services (4.0 percent), and used cars and trucks (10.6 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in apparel (-2.9 percent) and motor vehicle insurance (-3.3 percent).

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

Month	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.7	2.2	0.4	1.6	-0.2	0.8	0.4	2.5	0.5	1.2
February	0.8	2.4	0.9	1.7	0.9	1.3	0.3	2.1
March	0.2	1.9	0.4	1.8	1.3	1.7	-0.5	1.0
April	0.5	1.8	0.6	1.8	0.9	1.5	-1.1	-0.4
May	0.4	1.4	0.9	2.3	0.6	1.3	0.3	-0.4
June	0.0	0.9	0.7	2.5	0.3	1.2	0.8	0.4
July	0.1	1.3	0.1	2.4	0.2	1.5	0.5	0.7
August	0.3	1.5	-0.1	2.1	0.2	1.5	0.4	1.1
September	0.5	1.5	0.1	1.9	0.0	1.4	0.2	1.3
October	0.1	1.5	0.2	2.2	0.2	1.5	-0.1	1.0
November	0.0	1.9	-0.5	1.4	0.0	1.9	-0.2	1.0
December	0.0	1.7	-0.9	1.3	-0.2	2.3	0.1	1.1

The February 2021 Consumer Price Index for the Midwest Region is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures 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, 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 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 Midwest region is comprised of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments 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, Midwest Region, (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes			Percent change from
	Nov. 2020	Dec. 2020	Jan. 2021	Jan. 2020	Nov. 2020	Dec. 2020
All items	241.316	241.453	242.552	1.2	0.5	0.5
All items (December 1977 = 100)	392.634	392.857	394.646
Food and beverages	255.325	255.750	257.301	3.0	0.8	0.6
Food	254.737	255.213	256.795	3.1	0.8	0.6
Food at home	232.725	233.262	235.377	3.0	1.1	0.9
Cereals and bakery products	265.472	265.348	267.438	3.5	0.7	0.8
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	258.428	255.078	257.090	2.8	-0.5	0.8
Dairy and related products	206.248	209.573	207.921	4.5	0.8	-0.8
Fruits and vegetables	270.622	269.604	276.447	1.2	2.2	2.5
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	164.546	168.164	171.316	4.1	4.1	1.9
Other food at home	201.587	202.666	203.284	3.0	0.8	0.3
Food away from home	290.913	291.304	292.106	3.1	0.4	0.3
Alcoholic beverages	261.211	261.004	262.158	2.5	0.4	0.4
Housing	239.340	239.663	239.842	1.7	0.2	0.1
Shelter	287.663	288.195	288.325	1.5	0.2	0.0
Rent of primary residence(1)	290.772	291.126	291.192	2.4	0.1	0.0
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(1)(2)	294.774	295.119	295.569	2.0	0.3	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(1)(2)	294.697	295.046	295.500	2.0	0.3	0.2
Fuels and utilities	223.823	224.571	226.692	3.0	1.3	0.9
Household energy	178.689	179.203	181.173	2.9	1.4	1.1
Energy services(1)	185.929	186.216	187.310	2.8	0.7	0.6
Electricity(1)	198.366	198.366	200.108	1.4	0.9	0.9
Utility (piped) gas service(1)	153.990	154.711	154.708	5.6	0.5	0.0
Household furnishings and operations	119.187	118.772	118.128	1.8	-0.9	-0.5
Apparel	108.941	106.713	110.662	-2.9	1.6	3.7
Transportation	195.565	196.331	197.506	-1.8	1.0	0.6
Private transportation	193.579	194.863	196.023	-0.3	1.3	0.6
New and used motor vehicles(3)	103.233	102.693	100.171	3.5	-3.0	-2.5
New vehicles	140.923	141.477	140.973	2.2	0.0	-0.4
New cars and trucks(3)(4)	99.601	99.999	99.656	2.2	0.1	-0.3
New cars(4)	139.935	140.583	139.985	3.7	0.0	-0.4
Used cars and trucks	152.256	150.443	149.311	10.6	-1.9	-0.8
Motor fuel	180.330	189.676	206.097	-8.6	14.3	8.7
Gasoline (all types)	179.169	188.417	204.864	-8.5	14.3	8.7
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	173.379	182.575	198.913	-8.6	14.7	8.9
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	214.101	226.383	242.235	-7.2	13.1	7.0
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	208.823	215.847	230.203	-7.9	10.2	6.7
Motor vehicle insurance(6)	701.290	702.580	713.866	-3.3	1.8	1.6
Medical care	519.503	518.433	523.287	3.1	0.7	0.9
Medical care commodities	377.928	377.106	377.966	-1.2	0.0	0.2
Medical care services	566.662	565.508	571.651	4.0	0.9	1.1
Professional services	429.926	429.675	431.850	2.1	0.4	0.5
Recreation(3)	124.170	123.939	124.181	0.4	0.0	0.2
Education and communication(3)	140.452	140.421	140.919	1.5	0.3	0.4
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(6)	1,217.797	1,217.907	1,219.653	1.8	0.2	0.1
Other goods and services	445.559	446.941	446.740	1.0	0.3	0.0
Commodity and service group
Commodities	179.009	179.393	181.384	1.3	1.3	1.1
Commodities less food and beverages	143.297	143.650	145.709	0.2	1.7	1.4
Nondurables less food and beverages	178.840	180.235	186.423	-2.9	4.2	3.4
Durables	105.717	105.410	104.780	3.7	-0.9	-0.6
Services	305.793	305.650	305.728	1.1	0.0	0.0
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter	227.173	227.180	228.606	1.1	0.6	0.6
All items less medical care	228.131	228.327	229.245	1.0	0.5	0.4
Commodities less food	146.884	147.223	149.265	0.3	1.6	1.4
Nondurables	216.022	216.962	220.970	0.3	2.3	1.8
Nondurables less food	183.435	184.724	190.578	-2.5	3.9	3.2
Services less rent of shelter(2)	334.403	333.536	333.549	0.8	-0.3	0.0
Services less medical care services	286.265	286.203	285.794	0.7	-0.2	-0.1
Energy	179.638	184.125	192.598	-3.0	7.2	4.6
All items less energy	250.287	250.023	250.456	1.5	0.1	0.2
All items less food and energy	250.235	249.839	250.069	1.2	-0.1	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) 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. (6) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base.
Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.