The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell declined 0.5 percent from October to December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the energy index fell 8.4 percent over the bi-monthly period. In contrast, the food index rose 0.7 percent from October to December. The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U advanced 8.1 percent for the 12 months ending in December. The index for all items less food and energy rose 8.2 over the past year. The food index increased 12.5 percent over the last 12 months, while the energy index declined 2.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index rose 0.7 percent from October to December, reflecting increases in the food at home (+0.8 percent) and food away from home (+0.6 percent) indexes.  

The food index advanced 12.5 percent for the 12 months ending in December. The food at home index rose 14.6 percent over the past year as all six major grocery store food group indexes increased. The food away from home index also increased over the past year, up 9.8 percent.

Energy

The energy index fell 8.4 percent from October to December, led by a 11.0-percent decrease in the gasoline index.

The energy index declined 2.0 percent for the 12 months ending in December. The gasoline index contributed to the decrease, down 9.4 percent over the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged from October to December. The used cars and trucks index and the apparel index each declined 5.2 percent over the bi-monthly period. Among the indexes to increase from October to December include shelter (+1.1 percent) and household furnishings and operations (+2.3 percent).  

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 8.2 percent for the 12 months ending in December. The shelter index increased 12.8 percent over the past year, reflecting rises in owners’ equivalent rent (+13.2 percent) and rent of primary residence (+12.7 percent).  

Table A. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
February	1.2	3.3	1.2	1.3	0.8	2.9	1.6	2.4	2.3	10.6
April	0.2	2.8	1.4	2.5	-1.8	-0.3	1.6	6.0	1.9	10.8
June	1.2	2.8	-0.1	1.1	1.1	0.9	1.8	6.7	2.4	11.5
August	0.3	2.2	1.3	2.2	1.2	0.7	1.1	6.6	1.3	11.7
October	-1.0	1.6	-0.2	3.0	0.3	1.2	1.5	7.9	0.5	10.7
December	-0.6	1.4	-0.3	3.3	0.1	1.6	1.9	9.8	-0.5	8.1

The Consumer Price Index for January 2023 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, February 14, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 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 population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total 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 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton Counties in Georgia.

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