The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Boston-Cambridge-Newton was down 0.4 percent for the two months ending in November 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported today. Acting Regional Commissioner Michael G. Phinney noted that the all items less food and energy index and the food index decreased, while energy prices increased. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

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.

The Boston area all items CPI-U increased 2.8 percent for the 12 months ending in November. The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.0 percent. Over the same period, the indexes for food and energy increased 2.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, November 2022–November 2025

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Nov 2022	7.0	4.7
Jan 2023	6.4	4.6
Mar 2023	4.7	4.1
May 2023	3.6	4.3
Jul 2023	2.8	4.0
Sep 2023	2.6	3.0
Nov 2023	2.4	3.4
Jan 2024	2.0	3.0
Mar 2024	3.3	4.4
May 2024	4.0	4.5
Jul 2024	3.5	3.7
Sep 2024	3.4	4.2
Nov 2024	3.1	3.7
Jan 2025	3.9	4.4
Mar 2025	2.5	2.9
May 2025	3.0	3.2
Jul 2025	3.2	3.5
Sep 2025	3.3	3.3
Nov 2025	2.8	3.0

The food index declined 0.3 percent from September to November. A 1.1-percent decrease in prices for food away from home included lower prices for limited-service meals and snacks. In contrast, prices for food at home (grocery store purchases) rose 0.3 percent, with higher prices in 4 of the 6 major grocery store food groups.

Over the year, the food index rose 2.1 percent. Away-from-home food prices increased 5.2 percent, while at-home food prices decreased 0.4 percent. Four of the six major grocery store food group indexes declined over the year.

The energy index increased 2.1 percent over the two-month pricing period. Gasoline prices declined 2.6 percent.

From November 2024 to November 2025, the energy index increased 0.7 percent. Gasoline prices edged down 0.2 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy declined 0.6 percent from September to November. Apparel prices, which are often down over this period, fell 12.4 percent. Airline fares also declined. Additionally, lower prices were recorded for medical care (-0.9 percent) and for shelter (-0.2 percent). Within shelter, prices for lodging away from home fell, while prices rose for owners’ equivalent rent (+0.5 percent) and for rent of primary residence (+0.7 percent). In contrast, prices rose for education and communication (+0.7 percent) and for other goods and services (+1.5 percent).

For the year ended in November 2025, the index for all items less food and energy increased 3.0 percent. The shelter index (+4.0 percent) was the largest contributor to the increase, due in part to increases in owners’ equivalent rent (+4.4 percent) and rent of primary residence (+3.8 percent). Other categories with increases included tuition, other school fees, and childcare, which climbed 6.2 percent, the largest over-the-year increase recorded since the series start in 2018.

The Consumer Price Index for December 2025 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 Boston is published bi-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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Core Based Statistical Area includes Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts and Rockingham and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.

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. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, 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		349.271	-	347.892	2.8	-0.4	-
All items (1967=100)		1,015.165	-	1,011.157	-	-	-
Food and beverages		357.818	-	356.608	2.2	-0.3	-
Food		362.556	-	361.306	2.1	-0.3	-
Food at home		314.423	-	315.369	-0.4	0.3	-
Cereals and bakery products		375.799	-	383.673	-0.2	2.1	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		337.027	-	334.630	-2.1	-0.7	-
Dairy and related products		345.404	-	349.596	-3.5	1.2	-
Fruits and vegetables		371.344	-	364.069	-6.6	-2.0	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		223.957	-	227.299	9.1	1.5	-
Other food at home		246.571	-	248.149	2.3	0.6	-
Food away from home		449.002	-	444.093	5.2	-1.1	-
Alcoholic beverages		310.491	-	309.734	3.4	-0.2	-
Housing		384.173	-	384.811	3.7	0.2	-
Shelter		455.859	-	455.109	4.0	-0.2	-
Rent of primary residence		476.913	-	480.236	3.8	0.7	-
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)		491.205	-	493.672	4.4	0.5	-
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(2)		491.205	-	493.672	4.4	0.5	-
Household furnishings and operations		150.244	-	149.907	2.5	-0.2	-
Apparel		142.294	-	124.674	-7.8	-12.4	-
Transportation		240.390	-	237.665	2.8	-1.1	-
Private transportation		247.485	-	247.725	2.7	0.1	-
New and used motor vehicles(3)		141.252	-	141.060	1.4	-0.1	-
New vehicles(1)		241.187	-	240.780	0.4	-0.2	-
Used cars and trucks(1)		434.114	-	433.253	3.6	-0.2	-
Motor fuel		276.172	-	268.902	-0.2	-2.6	-
Gasoline (all types)		273.491	267.720	266.286	-0.2	-2.6	-0.5
Unleaded regular(4)		261.490	255.497	254.092	-0.3	-2.8	-0.5
Unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		313.519	309.723	308.328	0.7	-1.7	-0.5
Unleaded premium(4)		313.826	310.028	308.580	0.5	-1.7	-0.5
Medical care		769.718	-	762.945	0.7	-0.9	-
Recreation(3)		118.291	-	118.545	1.7	0.2	-
Education and communication(3)		182.054	-	183.374	3.0	0.7	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)		1,646.548	-	1,654.043	6.2	0.5	-
Other goods and services		689.340	-	699.606	6.0	1.5	-
Footnotes (1) Index is on a January 1978=100 base. (2) Index is on a November 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. The October 2025 and November 2025 data values are not available due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.

Table 2. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, 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		349.271	-	347.892	2.8	-0.4	-
Food		362.556	-	361.306	2.1	-0.3	-
Energy		314.305	-	321.014	0.7	2.1	-
All items less food and energy		357.981	-	355.997	3.0	-0.6	-
All items less energy		357.224	-	355.353	2.9	-0.5	-
All items less medical care		333.179	-	331.985	2.9	-0.4	-
All items less shelter		308.404	-	306.722	2.0	-0.5	-
Commodities		232.200	-	228.771	0.5	-1.5	-
Commodities less food		176.476	-	172.263	-0.8	-2.4	-
Commodities less food & beverages		171.118	-	166.823	-1.0	-2.5	-
Durables		119.585	-	118.224	-1.0	-1.1	-
Nondurables		291.584	-	286.997	0.9	-1.6	-
Nondurables less food		233.167	-	225.655	-0.7	-3.2	-
Nondurables less food & beverages		228.142	-	220.117	-1.1	-3.5	-
Services		454.972	-	455.383	3.8	0.1	-
Services less rent of shelter(1)		469.082	-	471.088	3.5	0.4	-
Services less medical care services		431.720	-	432.500	4.1	0.2	-
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base.
- Data not available. Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. The October 2025 and November 2025 data values are not available due to the 2025 lapse in appropriations.