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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Geographic Information > Northeast > News Release
News Release Information

25-477-BOS
Thursday, April 10, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Consumer Price Index, Boston-Cambridge-Newton — March 2025

Area prices up 0.1 percent over the two months and 2.5 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Boston area ticked up 0.1 percent for the two months ending in March 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that prices increased for the all items less food and energy index and the food index, while energy prices decreased. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

The Boston area all items CPI-U rose 2.5 percent for the 12 months ending in March. The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.9 percent over the year, and food prices rose 2.2 percent. In contrast, energy prices decreased 2.8 percent.

  Line chart of 12-month percent changes in the Consumer Price Index CPI-U for all items and all items less food and energy for Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, March 2022 to March 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Accessible version is available in View Chart Data link below the chart.
View Chart Data
Food

Food prices rose 0.3 percent for the two months ending in March. Prices for food away from home advanced 1.9 percent, while prices for food at home declined 1.0 percent. Grocery items with price reductions over the two-month period included fruits and vegetables (-6.0 percent).

Food prices increased 2.2 percent over the year, with prices for food away from home advancing 6.0 percent. In contrast, prices for food at home declined 0.7 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 3.7 percent for the two months ending in March. Gasoline prices declined 1.6 percent.

Over the year, energy prices decreased 2.8 percent, with a 7.8-percent decline in gasoline prices.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent during the two-month period. Shelter prices increased 0.4 percent, with higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent (+0.5 percent) and for rent of primary residence (+0.4 percent). Prices for education and communication rose 0.8 percent. Prices also increased for recreation (+0.9 percent), apparel (+1.7 percent), and personal care. In contrast, prices for new and used motor vehicles, a category that includes leased cars and trucks and car and truck rental, declined 2.3 percent. Other expenditures with lower prices included household furnishings and operations (-2.4 percent) and airline fares.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.9 percent over the year. Prices for shelter rose 3.8 percent. Within shelter, prices increased for owners’ equivalent rent (5.5 percent) and rent of primary residence (5.3 percent), while prices decreased for lodging away from home. A 3.4-percent increase in prices for education and communication included a 5.0-percent rise in tuition, other school fees, and childcare. Medical care prices rose 2.5 percent. On the other hand, prices for household furnishings were down 4.9 percent.

The Consumer Price Index for May 2025 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Publication updates and changes

In accordance with annual practice, relative importance weights have been updated and are available online in the CPI Supplemental Table of Contents.

Effective with the January 2025 data release, several indexes and average price series were discontinued. More information is available on the CPI discontinued series page. Direct any inquiries to the CPI office using one of the CPI contact information options listed online.


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 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.

Percent changes for all-items data previously found in Table A of this release can be accessed in Chart 1 for this release and its attendant data table. A full all-items data series history for the original index value and for 1-month, 2-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month percent changes can be accessed via BLS data query tools. A direct link to the all-items series is provided in Table 1 of this release under historical data.

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 March 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Expenditure category

 Indexes Percent change from:
Historical
data		 Jan.
2025		 Feb.
2025		 Mar.
2025		 Mar.
2024		 Jan.
2025		 Feb.
2025

All items

 343.486 - 343.972 2.5 0.1 -

All items (1967=100)

 998.351 - 999.764 - - -

Food and beverages

 351.757 - 353.157 2.4 0.4 -

Food

 356.345 - 357.557 2.2 0.3 -

Food at home

 317.027 317.316 313.993 -0.7 -1.0 -1.0

Cereals and bakery products

 388.503 387.757 388.118 0.4 -0.1 0.1

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

 339.458 351.849 348.746 5.7 2.7 -0.9

Dairy and related products

 359.611 361.932 364.085 -1.9 1.2 0.6

Fruits and vegetables

 384.599 383.214 361.699 -6.1 -6.0 -5.6

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

 209.217 207.620 206.189 -4.0 -1.4 -0.7

Other food at home

 247.005 243.095 243.904 0.5 -1.3 0.3

Food away from home

 428.075 - 436.344 6.0 1.9 -

Alcoholic beverages

 306.114 - 309.947 5.6 1.3 -

Housing

 377.581 - 377.019 2.8 -0.1 -

Shelter

 445.645 455.677 447.566 3.8 0.4 -1.8

Rent of primary residence

 466.464 466.868 468.119 5.3 0.4 0.3

Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)

 476.750 477.895 479.347 5.5 0.5 0.3

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(2)

 476.750 477.895 479.347 5.5 0.5 0.3

Household furnishings and operations

 147.125 - 143.626 -4.9 -2.4 -

Apparel

 141.040 - 143.418 2.8 1.7 -

Transportation

 237.571 - 235.305 0.7 -1.0 -

Private transportation

 247.588 - 244.545 1.4 -1.2 -

New and used motor vehicles(3)

 144.621 - 141.322 2.8 -2.3 -

New vehicles(1)

 240.065 - 240.186 -0.4 0.1 -

Used cars and trucks(1)

 420.920 - 424.099 -0.4 0.8 -

Motor fuel

 268.837 269.377 264.481 -7.8 -1.6 -1.8

Gasoline (all types)

 266.228 266.759 261.908 -7.8 -1.6 -1.8

Unleaded regular(4)

 254.371 254.882 249.960 -8.3 -1.7 -1.9

Unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

 305.743 306.262 302.120 -5.9 -1.2 -1.4

Unleaded premium(4)

 306.571 307.163 303.306 -5.4 -1.1 -1.3

Medical care

 761.429 - 765.023 2.5 0.5 -

Recreation(3)

 117.276 - 118.385 1.8 0.9 -

Education and communication(3)

 178.915 - 180.396 3.4 0.8 -

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

 1,557.714 - 1,589.441 5.0 2.0 -

Other goods and services

 647.551 - 668.975 4.0 3.3 -

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.
Table 2. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, CPI-U by special aggregate index for March 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Special aggregate index

 Indexes Percent change from:
Historical
data		 Jan.
2025		 Feb.
2025		 Mar.
2025		 Mar.
2024		 Jan.
2025		 Feb.
2025

All items

 343.486 - 343.972 2.5 0.1 -

Food

 356.345 - 357.557 2.2 0.3 -

Energy

 323.392 321.704 311.521 -2.8 -3.7 -3.2

All items less food and energy

 351.115 - 352.331 2.9 0.3 -

All items less energy

 350.478 - 351.689 2.8 0.3 -

All items less medical care

 327.516 - 327.898 2.5 0.1 -

All items less shelter

 304.474 - 304.334 1.7 0.0 -

Commodities

 230.005 - 229.586 0.1 -0.2 -

Commodities less food

 175.898 - 174.849 -1.4 -0.6 -

Commodities less food & beverages

 170.664 - 169.467 -1.8 -0.7 -

Durables

 120.161 - 118.579 -2.5 -1.3 -

Nondurables

 287.640 - 288.065 0.9 0.1 -

Nondurables less food

 231.143 - 230.891 -0.7 -0.1 -

Nondurables less food & beverages

 226.285 - 225.734 -1.4 -0.2 -

Services

 445.986 - 447.271 3.7 0.3 -

Services less rent of shelter(1)

 461.555 - 461.628 3.5 0.0 -

Services less medical care services

 423.170 - 424.233 3.8 0.3 -

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.

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, April 10, 2025