Prices in the Boston area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.7 percent for the two months ending in September 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that the September increase was influenced 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 2.6 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.0 percent over the year. Food prices rose 5.0 percent. Energy prices fell 7.2 percent. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

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

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
May 2023	3.6	4.3
Jul 2023	2.8	4.0
Sep 2023	2.6	3.0

Food prices increased 1.3 percent for the two months ending in September. Prices for food at home rose 0.5 percent, and prices for food away from home increased 3.0 percent for the same period. Four of the six grocery categories had higher prices in September, led by meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, with a 2.5-percent increase.

For the year ending in September 2023, food prices rose 5.0 percent. Prices for food at home increased 4.3 percent, and prices for food away from home advanced 6.7 percent.

The energy index increased 1.5 percent for the two months ending in September. Prices for gasoline advanced 5.0 percent. Household energy prices fell 0.8 percent, with price decreases for electricity (-4.2 percent) and natural gas (-3.9 percent). In contrast, prices rose for fuel oil.

Energy prices fell 7.2 percent over the year. Prices for household energy fell 10.8 percent, as prices declined for natural gas (-31.8 percent) and electricity (-3.6 percent). On the other hand, prices for fuel oil rose. Gasoline prices were unchanged.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for shelter (0.9 percent) included increases in residential rent (1.6 percent) and owners’ equivalent rent (1.0 percent). Lower prices for lodging away from home partly offset these increases. Apparel prices rose 6.1 percent. Prices for new and used motor vehicles fell 1.9 percent, led by a 6.3-percent decrease in prices for used cars and trucks. Medical care prices declined 0.8 percent.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 3.0 percent. The increase was driven by a 6.9-percent advance in shelter prices. Within the shelter component, residential rent advanced 7.8 percent, and owners’ equivalent rent rose 6.6 percent. Prices declined for medical care (-3.2 percent) and recreation (-3.7 percent).

The November 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Boston area is scheduled to be released on December 12, 2023.

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 in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.