The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Boston-Brockton-Nashua area was up 1.0 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Deborah A. Brown noted that the two-month increase was mainly due to higher prices for shelter, up 1.3 percent over two months as well as higher prices paid by area consumers for apparel, up 6.8 percent, which also contributed to the overall increase. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bimonthly changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months the Boston CPI-U rose 0.8 percent. The increase was largely attributable to higher shelter prices, up 3.1 percent. (See chart 1.)  Lower energy prices paid by area consumers, down 14.2 percent, partially offset the modest increase.

 

Food

Food prices were unchanged since January. Grocery store prices, also known as food at home, edged up 0.1 percent. A drop in the prices for food away from home (-0.2 percent), or restaurant prices, offset this rise.

From March 2014 to March 2015 the index for food rose 1.9 percent mainly due to higher grocery store prices (+2.6 percent) and, to a lesser extent, higher restaurant prices (+0.9 percent).  

Energy

The energy index was up 1.8 percent over the two months, mainly due to gas price increases. Area motorists paid $2.437 per gallon of gasoline in March. This increase was partially offset by lower prices for utility (piped) gas, down 12.1 percent from January.  

Energy prices were down 14.2 percent from a year ago, attributable to lower gasoline prices, down 31.7 percent. Partially offsetting this decline was a 30.5-percent advance in local electricity prices. The March increase in local electricity prices was the largest since a 36.7-percent increase was recorded in February of 2006.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy was up 1.1 percent from January. Increases in the indexes for shelter (+1.3 percent) and apparel (+6.8 percent) led the advance. 

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.3 percent, with higher shelter costs, rising 3.1 percent from March 2014, being the main cause of this increase. This marked the 45^th consecutive annual increase in the local shelter index. Contributing to the over-the-year rise in the all items less food and energy index were increases in the prices paid for apparel (+8.5 percent) as well as medical care and recreation (+1.8 percent, each).

CPI-W

In March, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) was 256.929. The CPI-W rose 1.0 percent over two months and edged up 0.4 percent over the year.

The May 2015 Consumer Price Index for Boston-Brockton-Nashua is scheduled to be released on Thursday, June 18, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 28 percent of the total 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 24,000 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 change from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, 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 withweights 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 Boston-Brockton-Nashua, Mass.-N.H.-Maine-Conn. consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth and Suffolk Counties and parts of Bristol, Hampden, and Worcester Counties in Massachusetts; parts of Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire; part of York County in Maine; and part of Windham County in Connecticut.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service (800) 877-8339.