Prices in the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.6 percent for the two months ending in July 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index rose 0.8 percent in June and July. The food index was up 0.7 percent, while the energy index was down 2.7 percent over the past two months. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 1.9 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.4 percent over the year, largely due to a rise in the index for shelter. The food index advanced 2.6 percent, while the energy index fell 8.4 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, July 2021–July 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jul 2021	3.5	2.4
Sep 2021	4.5	3.1
Nov 2021	6.5	5.2
Jan 2022	7.9	7.0
Mar 2022	9.1	8.0
May 2022	8.3	7.1
Jul 2022	8.2	6.6
Sep 2022	7.7	7.2
Nov 2022	6.9	6.7
Jan 2023	6.4	5.9
Mar 2023	5.7	5.6
May 2023	5.1	5.6
Jul 2023	4.7	5.8
Sep 2023	5.4	5.4
Nov 2023	4.5	4.8
Jan 2024	3.5	4.1
Mar 2024	2.8	3.4
May 2024	2.6	2.7
Jul 2024	1.9	2.4

Food prices rose 0.7 percent for the two months ending in July. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) increased 0.9 percent, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 0.6 percent for the same period. The rise in the index for food at home was led by an increase in the index for cereals and bakery products (+3.8 percent); a decline in the index for fruits and vegetables (-1.7 percent) partially offset this rise.

Over the year, food prices were up 2.6 percent. Prices for food away from home increased 5.7 percent, while prices for food at home were unchanged since a year ago.

The energy index decreased 2.7 percent for the two months ending in July. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for natural gas service, but price declines for electricity also contributed. The two-month decline was partially offset by an increase in the prices paid for gasoline (+2.7 percent).

From July 2023 to July 2024, energy prices fell 8.4 percent. This decrease was due to a combination of a decline in the natural gas service index and a 12.1-percent decline in the gasoline index. The index for electricity rose over the year.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.8 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for lodging away from home, owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.7 percent), and other goods and services (+7.0 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for public transportation, apparel (-6.0 percent), and household furnishings and operations (-2.0 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.4 percent. Components contributing most to the increase included shelter (+3.0 percent), medical care, and other goods and services (+4.5 percent). Decreasing prices for used cars and trucks (-9.7 percent), public transportation, and apparel (-4.5 percent) partially offset increases in the index.

The September 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 10, 2024.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) measures 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 Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO, Core Based Statistical Area is comprised of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Gilpin, Jefferson, and Park counties in Colorado.

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