Prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), edged up 0.2 percent in August, following a 0.3-percent decline in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that higher prices for food and non-energy items contributed to the upturn. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the year, the CPI-U increased 6.6 percent, while the index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.6 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices increased 25.7 percent. Food prices rose 10.2 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

In August, food prices increased 0.4 percent, with prices for food at home and for food away from home each rising 0.4 percent. Four of the six grocery categories had increases. Among the groceries with higher August prices were nonfrozen noncarbonated juices and drinks and citrus fruits.

Over the year, food prices rose 10.2 percent. At-home food prices increased 11.9 percent, and away-from-home food prices increased 7.3 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 1.8 percent, after declining 5.8 percent in July. Gasoline prices fell 10.0 percent. A 5.2-percent increase in household energy largely offset the decline, with higher prices for electricity (7.4 percent) and natural gas (5.8 percent). Fuel oil, on the other hand, declined.

From August 2021 to August 2022, energy prices rose 25.7 percent. Gasoline prices increased 30.2 percent. Natural gas prices rose 32.8 percent, and electricity prices increased 10.1 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent, after edging down 0.2 percent in July. A seasonal increase in apparel prices (3.6 percent) and a 0.2-percent increase in shelter prices drove the change. Other categories contributing to the August increase included new and used motor vehicles (0.8 percent) and education and communication (0.7 percent). Within the education and communication category, tuition, other school fees, and childcare advanced 1.1 percent.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.6 percent. Shelter prices (up 2.8 percent) included a 3.5 percent increase for owners’ equivalent rent and a 2.9-percent increase for residential rent. New and used motor vehicles were up 16.8 percent. Medical care prices advanced 7.3 percent, the largest 12-month increase since July 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	0.2	6.6
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 September 2022 Consumer Price Index for the New York-Newark-Jersey City area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 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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