Prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), decreased 0.3 percent in July, following a 1.4-percent rise in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that the downturn was largely due to lower prices for energy. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the year, the CPI-U increased 6.5 percent, while the index for all items less food and energy rose 4.2 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices increased 30.6 percent. Food prices advanced 10.2 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 1.8 percent in July, following a 0.3-percent June increase. Prices for food at home advanced 2.5 percent, with higher prices recorded in all six grocery categories. Prices for food away from home rose 0.7 percent.

Over the year, food prices rose 10.2 percent. At-home food prices advanced 11.9 percent, and away-from-home food prices increased 7.5 percent.

Energy

The energy index fell 5.8 percent, after increasing 4.1 percent in June. Gasoline prices declined 6.5 percent, and household energy prices decreased 5.2 percent. Within household energy, charges for electricity and natural gas were down 6.5 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

For the year ended in July 2022, energy prices were up 30.6 percent. Gasoline prices rose 45.9 percent, and household energy prices increased 19.5 percent. Natural gas prices rose 26.5 percent, and electricity prices increased 7.4 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged down 0.2 percent in July. New and used motor vehicles, which include vehicle rentals and leasing, declined 3.7 percent. Apparel prices, often down in July, decreased 2.5 percent. Airline fares also declined. These declines were partly offset by a 0.2-percent increase in shelter prices and a 0.7-percent rise in medical care prices. Within shelter, residential rents and owners’ equivalent rent were each up 0.3 percent, while out-of-town lodging was down.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.2 percent. Prices for new and used motor vehicles were up 15.5 percent, reflecting, in part, a 16.1-percent increase for new vehicles and a 7.1-percent rise for used cars and trucks. Shelter prices were up 2.3 percent; owners’ equivalent rent rose 3.3 percent, and residential rent increased 2.8 percent. Medical care prices advanced 7.0 percent, the largest 12-month increase since October 1992.

Table A. New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.4	1.4	0.5	1.6	0.8	2.5	0.4	1.2	1.1	5.1
February	0.5	1.7	0.2	1.3	0.2	2.4	0.3	1.4	0.3	5.1
March	0.0	1.7	0.3	1.6	-0.2	2.0	0.4	2.0	1.3	6.1
April	0.3	1.9	0.3	1.6	-0.5	1.1	0.7	3.2	0.9	6.3
May	0.4	2.2	0.2	1.5	0.5	1.4	0.5	3.2	0.5	6.3
June	0.1	2.0	0.3	1.7	0.1	1.3	1.0	4.1	1.4	6.7
July	0.0	2.2	0.0	1.7	0.5	1.7	-0.1	3.5	-0.3	6.5
August	0.1	2.2	0.2	1.8	-0.1	1.4	0.1	3.7
September	0.4	2.0	0.0	1.4	0.4	1.9	0.5	3.8
October	-0.1	2.0	0.0	1.5	-0.2	1.7	0.3	4.3
November	-0.2	1.9	0.1	1.8	-0.3	1.4	0.3	5.0
December	-0.2	1.6	0.1	2.2	0.4	1.6	-0.2	4.4

The August 2022 Consumer Price Index for the New York-Newark-Jersey City area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, September 13, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Core Based Statistical Area includes Bronx, Dutchess, Kings, Nassau, New York, Orange, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk, and Westchester Counties in New York; Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, and Union Counties in New Jersey; and Pike County in Pennsylvania.

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