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Bureau of Labor Statistics > Geographic Information > Northeast > News Release
News Release Information

25-193-BOS
Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (617) 565-4141

Consumer Price Index, Boston-Cambridge-Newton — January 2025

Area prices up 1.5 percent over the two months and 3.9 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Boston area advanced 1.5 percent for the two months ending in January 2025, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner William J. Sibley noted that prices for all items less food and energy increased 1.6 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

The Boston area all items CPI-U advanced 3.9 percent for the 12 months ending in January. The index for all items less food and energy increased 4.4 percent over the year. Food prices rose 1.3 percent, and energy prices increased 2.3 percent.

  Line chart of 12-month percent changes in the Consumer Price Index CPI-U for all items and all items less food and energy for Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, January 2022 to January 2025, not seasonally adjusted. Accessible version is available in View Chart Data link below the chart.
View Chart Data
Food

Food prices rose 0.7 percent for the two months ending in January. Prices for food away from home advanced 1.4 percent, and prices for food at home ticked up 0.1 percent over the same period. Grocery items with price increases over the two-month period included carbonated drinks, snacks, and ice cream and related products.

Food prices rose 1.3 percent over the year, with prices for food away from home advancing 3.9 percent. In contrast, prices for food at home declined 0.6 percent.

Energy

The energy index increased 1.5 percent for the two months ending in January. Gasoline prices edged down 0.2 percent.

Energy prices increased 2.3 percent over the year. Gasoline prices decreased 4.6 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.6 percent during the two-month period. A 1.9-percent advance in shelter prices included higher prices for lodging away from home. New and used motor vehicles, a category that includes leased cars and trucks and car and truck rental, rose 3.9 percent. Other expenditures with higher prices from November to January included apparel (+4.3 percent) and airline fares.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.4 percent over the year. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (+5.9 percent), medical care (+5.5 percent), and new and used motor vehicles (+5.9 percent). Within shelter, owners’ equivalent rent increased 5.4 percent, and rent of primary residence rose 5.7 percent.

The Consumer Price Index for March 2025 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Publication updates and changes

In accordance with annual practice, relative importance weights have been updated and are available online in the CPI Supplemental Table of Contents.

Effective with the January 2025 data release, several indexes and average price series were discontinued. More information is available on the CPI discontinued series page. Direct any inquiries to the CPI office using one of the CPI contact information options listed online.


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 Consumer Price Index for Boston is published bi-monthly. The set of components and sub-aggregates published for regional and metropolitan indexes is more limited than at the U.S. city average level; these indexes are byproducts of the national CPI program. Each local index has a much smaller sample size than the national or regional indexes and is, therefore, subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error. As a result, local-area indexes are more volatile than the national or regional indexes. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. 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.

Percent changes for all-items data previously found in Table A of this release can be accessed in Chart 1 for this release and its attendant data table. A full all-items data series history for the original index value and for 1-month, 2-month, 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month percent changes can be accessed via BLS data query tools. A direct link to the all-items series is provided in Table 1 of this release under historical data.

The Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Core Based Statistical Area includes Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts and Rockingham and Strafford Counties in New Hampshire.

Refer to the national CPI news release technical note or the Handbook of Methods for more information.

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.

Table 1. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, CPI-U by expenditure category for January 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Expenditure category

 Indexes Percent change from:
Historical
data		 Nov.
2024		 Dec.
2024		 Jan.
2025		 Jan.
2024		 Nov.
2024		 Dec.
2024

All items

 338.512 - 343.486 3.9 1.5 -

All items (1967=100)

 983.894 - 998.351 - - -

Food and beverages

 349.006 - 351.757 1.3 0.8 -

Food

 353.910 - 356.345 1.3 0.7 -

Food at home

 316.667 313.508 317.027 -0.6 0.1 1.1

Cereals and bakery products

 384.518 387.605 388.503 0.2 1.0 0.2

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

 341.811 332.574 339.458 4.2 -0.7 2.1

Dairy and related products

 362.157 350.457 359.611 -2.2 -0.7 2.6

Fruits and vegetables

 389.711 383.418 384.599 -2.7 -1.3 0.3

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

 208.416 200.953 209.217 -0.8 0.4 4.1

Other food at home

 242.535 246.878 247.005 -1.4 1.8 0.1

Food away from home

 422.001 - 428.075 3.9 1.4 -

Alcoholic beverages

 299.650 - 306.114 2.1 2.2 -

Housing

 370.972 - 377.581 5.2 1.8 -

Shelter

 437.445 439.323 445.645 5.9 1.9 1.4

Rent of primary residence

 462.584 465.361 466.464 5.7 0.8 0.2

Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)

 472.757 475.708 476.750 5.4 0.8 0.2

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(2)

 472.757 475.708 476.750 5.4 0.8 0.2

Household furnishings and operations

 146.271 - 147.125 -2.7 0.6 -

Apparel

 135.260 - 141.040 1.3 4.3 -

Transportation

 231.265 - 237.571 3.8 2.7 -

Private transportation

 241.286 - 247.588 3.8 2.6 -

New and used motor vehicles(3)

 139.178 - 144.621 5.9 3.9 -

New vehicles(1)

 239.799 - 240.065 -0.6 0.1 -

Used cars and trucks(1)

 418.281 - 420.920 -0.6 0.6 -

Motor fuel

 269.335 268.489 268.837 -4.6 -0.2 0.1

Gasoline (all types)

 266.737 265.885 266.228 -4.6 -0.2 0.1

Unleaded regular(4)

 254.885 254.005 254.371 -4.8 -0.2 0.1

Unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

 306.247 305.736 305.743 -3.8 -0.2 0.0

Unleaded premium(4)

 306.985 306.391 306.571 -3.4 -0.1 0.1

Medical care

 758.008 - 761.429 5.5 0.5 -

Recreation(3)

 116.547 - 117.276 2.1 0.6 -

Education and communication(3)

 178.050 - 178.915 2.2 0.5 -

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

 1,557.714 - 1,557.714 2.9 0.0 -

Other goods and services

 659.799 - 647.551 1.1 -1.9 -

Footnotes
(1) Index is on a January 1978=100 base.
(2) Index is 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.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.
Table 2. Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH, CPI-U by special aggregate index for January 2025, not seasonally adjusted (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Special aggregate index

 Indexes Percent change from:
Historical
data		 Nov.
2024		 Dec.
2024		 Jan.
2025		 Jan.
2024		 Nov.
2024		 Dec.
2024

All items

 338.512 - 343.486 3.9 1.5 -

Food

 353.910 - 356.345 1.3 0.7 -

Energy

 318.761 318.070 323.392 2.3 1.5 1.7

All items less food and energy

 345.572 - 351.115 4.4 1.6 -

All items less energy

 345.392 - 350.478 4.0 1.5 -

All items less medical care

 322.527 - 327.516 3.7 1.5 -

All items less shelter

 300.852 - 304.474 2.5 1.2 -

Commodities

 227.605 - 230.005 0.1 1.1 -

Commodities less food

 173.608 - 175.898 -0.7 1.3 -

Commodities less food & beverages

 168.520 - 170.664 -0.9 1.3 -

Durables

 119.380 - 120.161 -2.2 0.7 -

Nondurables

 284.384 - 287.640 0.9 1.1 -

Nondurables less food

 227.169 - 231.143 0.4 1.7 -

Nondurables less food & beverages

 222.491 - 226.285 0.2 1.7 -

Services

 438.686 - 445.986 5.7 1.7 -

Services less rent of shelter(1)

 455.014 - 461.555 5.5 1.4 -

Services less medical care services

 415.613 - 423.170 5.8 1.8 -

Footnotes
(1) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base.

- Data not available.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025