Prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), rose 0.7 percent in April, following a 0.4-percent increase in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Chief Regional Economist Martin Kohli noted that the increase was influenced by higher prices for all items less food and energy. (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 rose 3.2 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The 3.2-percent increase was the largest over-the-year increase since October 2011. Food prices increased 2.1 percent. Energy prices jumped 16.1 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.6 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

The food index climbed 0.8 percent in April. Prices for food at home rose 1.2 percent, with four of the six grocery indexes reporting increases. The index for food away from home rose 0.3 percent.  

Over-the-year, the food index was up 2.1 percent. Prices for food away from home increased 4.3 percent, while at-home food prices rose 0.3 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 3.5 percent in April, after falling 1.6 percent in March. Household energy prices experienced a 5.0-percent increase, due to a 10.6-percent jump in electricity prices that was partially offset by a 2.6-percent drop in natural gas prices.   

From April 2020 to April 2021, energy prices increased 16.1 percent, largely due to a 29.0-percent jump in gasoline prices. Price increases for electricity (6.6 percent) and natural gas (4.9 percent) also contributed to the increase in energy prices.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5 percent in April. Prices for new and used motor vehicles rose 4.3 percent, driven by a 9.8-percent increase in used car and truck prices. Shelter prices rose 0.3 percent, with owners’ equivalent rent rising 0.2 percent and residential rent edging up 0.1 percent. Lower prices for apparel (-2.9 percent) partially offset these increases.

For the year ended in April 2021, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.6 percent. New and used motor vehicle prices rose 14.7 percent, with used car and truck prices increasing 20.7 percent. Shelter prices rose 1.0 percent, with owners’ equivalent rent rising 0.8 percent and residential rent increasing 0.3 percent. Household furnishings and operations increased 7.4 percent, the largest over-the-year increase since October 1981.

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	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.6	2.5	0.4	1.4	0.5	1.6	0.8	2.5	0.4	1.2
February	0.3	2.6	0.5	1.7	0.2	1.3	0.2	2.4	0.3	1.4
March	0.0	2.3	0.0	1.7	0.3	1.6	-0.2	2.0	0.4	2.0
April	0.1	2.0	0.3	1.9	0.3	1.6	-0.5	1.1	0.7	3.2
May	0.1	1.8	0.4	2.2	0.2	1.5	0.5	1.4
June	0.2	1.8	0.1	2.0	0.3	1.7	0.1	1.3
July	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.2	0.0	1.7	0.5	1.7
August	0.2	1.7	0.1	2.2	0.2	1.8	-0.1	1.4
September	0.5	2.1	0.4	2.0	0.0	1.4	0.4	1.9
October	-0.2	1.8	-0.1	2.0	0.0	1.5	-0.2	1.7
November	-0.1	1.6	-0.2	1.9	0.1	1.8	-0.3	1.4
December	0.1	1.6	-0.2	1.6	0.1	2.2	0.4	1.6

The May 2021 Consumer Price Index for New York-Newark-Jersey City is scheduled to be released on Thursday, June 10, 2021, 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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