Prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), rose 0.5 percent in January, following three consecutive declines, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli attributed the upturn to higher prices for food, apparel, and housing. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the year, the CPI-U increased 1.6 percent. The index for all items less food and energy also rose 1.6 percent. (See table A and chart 1.) Price increases for shelter drove the 12-month change in both indexes. (See table 1.)

Food

The food index increased 0.6 percent, after edging up 0.2 percent in December. Prices for food at home advanced 0.7 percent, with higher prices in four of the six grocery groups. Carbonated drinks and candy and chewing gum were among the grocery items with higher prices in January. Prices for food away from home rose 0.4 percent.

Over the year, the food index increased 2.5 percent. Prices rose 2.8 percent for food-away-from-home and 2.2 percent for food-at-home.

Energy

The energy index dipped 0.1 percent, after declining 2.8 percent in each of the two prior months. Gasoline prices dropped 5.5 percent, after falling 6.7 percent in December and 4.4 percent in November. On the other hand, household energy prices rose 3.7 percent, with charges increasing 4.8 percent for electricity and 3.3 percent for natural gas.

From January 2018 to January 2019, the energy index inched up 0.1 percent. A 4.8-percent rise in household energy prices was largely offset by a 6.6-percent decline in gasoline prices. Within household energy, natural gas prices advanced 18.9 percent while electricity prices ticked up 0.1 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.5 percent, the largest rise in almost three years.  Prices for apparel rose 3.4 percent, and prices for household furnishings and operations jumped 3.0 percent, the largest increase recorded since February 1991. Shelter prices rose 0.2 percent, with higher prices for residential rent (0.3 percent) and for lodging away from home. Price increases of 0.9 percent for medical care and 0.7 percent for new and used motor vehicles also contributed to the rise.

For the year ending in January 2019, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.6 percent. Shelter prices rose 1.9 percent, including a 2.2-percent rise in residential rent and a 2.1-percent increase in owners’ equivalent rent. Other expenditure categories posting increases of at least 2.0 percent included medical care (3.7 percent); tuition, other school fees, and childcare (3.0 percent); and other goods and services (2.4 percent). In contrast, household furnishings and operations were down 3.5 percent.

Table A. New York-Newark-Jersey City CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2014		2015		2016		2017		2018		2019
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.9	1.9	0.1	-0.5	0.2	0.8	0.6	2.5	0.4	1.4	0.5	1.6
February	-0.2	1.1	0.3	0.1	0.2	0.6	0.3	2.6	0.5	1.7
March	0.4	1.3	0.2	-0.1	0.2	0.7	0.0	2.3	0.0	1.7
April	0.0	1.6	0.1	0.0	0.4	1.0	0.1	2.0	0.3	1.9
May	0.5	1.9	0.4	-0.1	0.3	0.9	0.1	1.8	0.4	2.2
June	0.0	1.7	0.2	0.1	0.2(R)	0.9(R)	0.2	1.8	0.1	2.0
July	0.1	1.6	-0.1	-0.1	-0.1	1.0	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.2
August	-0.2	1.3	0.1	0.1	0.2	1.1	0.2	1.7	0.1	2.2
September	0.0	1.0	0.2	0.3	0.2	1.0	0.5	2.1	0.4	2.0
October	-0.2	1.3	-0.1	0.4	0.1	1.2	-0.2	1.8	-0.1	2.0
November	-0.4	0.8	-0.2	0.6	0.2	1.6	-0.1	1.6	-0.2	1.9
December	-0.5	0.3	-0.4	0.7	0.1	2.1	0.1	1.6	-0.2	1.6
Footnotes: (R) = revised.

CPI-WIn January, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) was 269.659, up 0.5 percent over the month. The CPI-W rose 1.5 percent over the year.

The February 2019 Consumer Price Index for New York-Newark-Jersey City is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, 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 93 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 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 75 urban areas across the country from about 5,000 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 (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/pdf/homch17.pdf.

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, N.Y.-N.J.-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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