Consumer Price Index, Boston-Cambridge-Newton — March 2023

Area prices up 0.2 percent for the two months ending in March and 4.7 percent over the year

Prices in the Boston area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.2 percent for the two months ending in March 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that the March increase was influenced primarily by higher prices for shelter. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 4.7 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.1 percent over the year. Food prices increased 9.2 percent. Energy prices increased 3.5 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of electricity. (See table 1.)

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, March 2020-March 2023

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, March 2020–March 2023
Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Mar 2020	1.8	2.3
May 2020	0.6	1.1
Jul 2020	0.8	0.8
Sep 2020	0.6	0.5
Nov 2020	0.4	0.4
Jan 2021	0.5	0.2
Mar 2021	1.3	0.4
May 2021	3.2	2.3
Jul 2021	4.3	3.3
Sep 2021	4.0	2.7
Nov 2021	5.3	3.3
Jan 2022	6.3	4.7
Mar 2022	7.3	5.2
May 2022	7.5	4.9
Jul 2022	7.0	3.9
Sep 2022	8.1	5.9
Nov 2022	7.0	4.7
Jan 2023	6.4	4.6
Mar 2023	4.7	4.1

Food

Food prices increased 0.6 percent for the two months ending in March. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home advanced 0.3 percent, with increases in four of the six grocery categories. Prices for food away from home increased 1.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 9.2 percent. Prices for food at home increased 11.1 percent, and prices for food away from home increased 6.1 percent.

Energy

For the two months ending in March, the energy index declined 3.2 percent, driven by a 13.7-percent decline in natural gas prices. Electricity charges decreased 0.5 percent, while prices also declined for fuel oil. Gasoline prices declined 2.6 percent.

Energy prices increased 3.5 percent over the year. A 21.4-percent advance in household energy prices was largely offset by a 20.9-percent decrease in gasoline prices. Within household energy, electricity prices climbed 45.3 percent; on the other hand, declines were recorded for natural gas (0.4 percent) and fuel oil.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.4 percent for the two months ending in March. Shelter prices rose 2.0 percent, with higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent (1.1 percent), residential rent (1.0 percent), and out-of-town lodging contributing to the advance. New and used motor vehicles prices rose 1.9 percent, and prices for other goods and services increased 3.1 percent. Lower prices for recreation (-5.5 percent) and medical care (-2.4 percent) partially offset these increases.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.1 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (6.9 percent)—with increases reported for owners’ equivalent rent (6.7 percent) and residential rent (7.8 percent)— and other goods and services (8.2 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in apparel (-5.3 percent) and recreation (-2.0 percent).

Table A. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted
Month	2019		2020		2021		2022		2023
Month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
January	0.5	2.5	0.6	2.2	0.7	0.5	1.6	6.3	1.1	6.4
March	0.5	2.1	0.1	1.8	0.9	1.3	1.9	7.3	0.2	4.7
May	0.2	2.3	-1.0	0.6	0.8	3.2	1.1	7.5
July	0.0	2.0	0.2	0.8	1.2	4.3	0.7	7.0
September	0.2	1.1	0.1	0.6	-0.1	4.0	0.9	8.1
November	0.7	2.1	0.4	0.4	1.7	5.3	0.6	7.0

The May 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Boston area is scheduled to be released on June 13, 2023.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index for Boston is published bi-monthly. 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 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, 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 Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts and Rockingham and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.

Information from this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, not seasonally adjusted
(1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group	Indexes		Percent change from-
Item and Group	Jan. 2023	March 2023	March 2022	Jan. 2023

Expenditure category

All items	324.270	324.859	4.7	0.2
All items (1967=100)	942.500	944.211

Food and beverages	331.649	333.687	9.1	0.6
Food	336.134	338.121	9.2	0.6
Food at home	309.387	310.255	11.1	0.3
Cereals and bakery products	369.206	378.995	12.1	2.7
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	329.205	326.293	5.2	-0.9
Dairy and related products	357.058	372.818	16.6	4.4
Fruits and vegetables	393.027	371.049	3.8	-5.6
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	189.262	200.088	19.1	5.7
Other food at home	241.947	243.205	16.2	0.5
Food away from home	380.460	385.111	6.1	1.2
Alcoholic beverages	286.196	288.862	7.4	0.9

Housing	346.741	350.257	8.2	1.0
Shelter	393.149	400.974	6.9	2.0
Rent of primary residence	411.385	415.506	7.8	1.0
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)	424.862	429.454	6.7	1.1
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)	424.862	429.454	6.7	1.1
Fuels and utilities	485.374	470.228	22.0	-3.1
Household energy	417.724	403.168	21.4	-3.5
Energy services	454.111	434.939	29.9	-4.2
Electricity	527.016	524.422	45.3	-0.5
Utility (piped) gas service	314.095	271.128	-0.4	-13.7
Household furnishings and operations	154.629	151.835	3.8	-1.8

Apparel	139.978	135.635	-5.3	-3.1

Transportation	227.126	229.390	-2.2	1.0
Private transportation	235.495	236.901	-3.3	0.6
New and used motor vehicles(3)	134.121	136.713	1.0	1.9
New vehicles(1)	240.560	241.362	4.7	0.3
Used cars and trucks(1)	431.498	427.943	-11.5	-0.8
Motor fuel	297.589	289.807	-20.9	-2.6
Gasoline (all types)	294.043	286.506	-20.9	-2.6
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	282.519	275.292	-22.0	-2.6
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	331.051	322.227	-15.8	-2.7
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	328.792	320.294	-12.8	-2.6

Medical care	758.152	740.012	2.3	-2.4

Recreation(3)	121.693	114.994	-2.0	-5.5

Education and communication(3)	175.524	173.973	-1.0	-0.9
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,464.754	1,464.754	2.2	0.0

Other goods and services	592.043	610.400	8.2	3.1

Commodity and service group

All items	324.270	324.859	4.7	0.2
Commodities	227.800	227.327	1.1	-0.2
Commodities less food and beverages	176.267	174.672	-3.6	-0.9
Nondurables less food and beverages	230.014	227.005	-4.9	-1.3
Durables	126.559	126.051	-2.5	-0.4
Services	411.350	412.891	6.5	0.4

Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care	307.654	308.953	4.9	0.4
All items less shelter	300.046	297.319	3.4	-0.9
Commodities less food	180.651	179.197	-3.2	-0.8
Nondurables	279.282	278.873	2.6	-0.1
Nondurables less food	233.026	230.468	-4.0	-1.1
Services less rent of shelter(2)	452.262	444.636	6.0	-1.7
Services less medical care services	386.580	389.618	7.3	0.8
Energy	366.659	354.865	3.5	-3.2
All items less energy	326.606	328.067	4.8	0.4
All items less food and energy	326.572	327.948	4.1	0.4
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a January 1978=100 base. (2) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Northeast Information Office

Consumer Price Index, Boston-Cambridge-Newton — March 2023