The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell increased 1.1 percent from June to August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the index for all items less food and energy also increased 1.1 percent over the bi-monthly period. The energy index increased 1.5 percent from June to August, while the food index rose 0.6 percent. (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 6.6 percent for the 12 months ending in August. The index for all items less food and energy increased 5.8 percent over the past year, while the energy index rose 26.0 percent over the last 12 months. The food index rose 1.3 percent over the past year. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year-percent change in CPI-U, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, August 2018-August 2021

Period	All items	All items less food and energy
Aug 2018	2.2	1.4
Oct 2018	1.6	1.6
Dec 2018	1.4	1.7
Feb 2019	1.3	1.9
Apr 2019	2.5	2.6
Jun 2019	1.1	2.3
Aug 2019	2.2	3.3
Oct 2019	3.0	3.5
Dec 2019	3.3	2.8
Feb 2020	2.9	2.8
Apr 2020	-0.3	1.1
Jun 2020	0.9	2.0
Aug 2020	0.7	2.1
Oct 2020	1.2	1.7
Dec 2020	1.6	2.0
Feb 2021	2.4	2.3
Apr 2021	6.0	5.0
Jun 2021	6.7	5.8
Aug 2021	6.6	5.8
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Food

The food index rose 0.6 percent from June to August, reflecting a 1.4-percent increase in the food away from home index. In contrast, the food at home index edged down 0.2 percent over the bi-monthly period.

The food index increased 1.3 percent for the 12 months ending in August, led by a 2.2-percent increase in the food away from home index. The food at home index rose 0.5 percent over the past 12 months.

Energy

The energy index rose 1.5 percent from June to August, reflecting a 1.8-percent increase in the gasoline index. The electricity index was unchanged over the bi-monthly period.

The energy index increased 26.0 percent for the 12 months ending in August, led by a 51.7-percent spike in the gasoline index. The electricity index also increased over the past 12 months, up 1.8 percent.  

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.1 percent from June to August. Among the indexes to increase over the bi-monthly period include shelter (1.2 percent), recreation (3.8 percent), and apparel (5.4 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 5.8 percent for the 12 months ending in August. Several indexes contributed to the increase, most notably shelter (5.8 percent). The new and used motor vehicles index advanced 18.7 percent over the year—reflecting a 30.9-percent increase in the used cars and trucks index.

The Consumer Price Index for September 2021 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, October 13, 2021 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; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.