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News Release Information

15-304-SAN
Thursday, February 26, 2015

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Consumer Price Index, San Diego - Second Half 2014

Area prices were down 0.1 percent over the past six months, up 1.3 percent from a year ago

Prices in the San Diego Area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), inched down 0.1 percent in the second half of 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that the January decrease was influenced by lower prices for gasoline and apparel. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, six-month-to-six-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 1.3 percent.  (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices decreased 2.1 percent, largely the result of an decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.4 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 1.3 percent in the second half of 2014. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home increased 1.9 percent, and prices for food at home increased 1.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 2.8 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 3.4 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home advanced 2.7 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 6.2 percent since the first half of 2014. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-11.1 percent). Prices for natural gas service advanced 0.6 percent, and prices for electricity increased 5.6 percent for the same period.

Energy prices decreased 2.1 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-7.3 percent). Prices paid for electricity advanced 9.0 percent, and prices for natural gas service jumped 11.7 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.4 percent in the latest six-month period. Higher prices for shelter (1.1 percent), household furnishings and operations (0.5 percent), and education and communication (0.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-4.0 percent) and other goods and services (-0.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.4 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (2.3 percent) and household furnishings and operations (0.8 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in recreation (-0.5 percent) and apparel (-0.4 percent).

Table A. San Diego CPI-U monthly and annual percent changes (not seasonally adjusted)
Month200920102011201220132014
Semi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnual

First Half

-0.5-0.60.21.42.33.41.31.70.60.91.42.4

Second Half

1.10.61.01.20.42.70.31.51.11.7-0.11.3

The first half of 2015 Consumer Price Index for the San Diego is scheduled to be released on August 19, 2015.


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 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 28 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, 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 San Diego, CA metropolitan area covered in this release consists of San Diego County in the State of California.

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.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes for semiannual averages and percent changes for selected periods

San Diego, CA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

 
Semiannual average indexes
 
Percent change to
2nd half 2014 from-
2nd half
2013
1st half
2014
2nd half
2014
2nd half
2013
1st half
2014

Expenditure category

 
 

All items

261.679265.251265.0391.3-0.1

All items (1967=100)

884.815896.895896.178--

Food and beverages

238.000241.797244.7162.81.2

Food

235.254238.846241.8362.81.3

Food at home

219.128222.500225.0052.71.1

Food away from home

254.719258.279263.3143.41.9

Alcoholic beverages

258.299264.228266.2413.10.8

Housing

287.897291.893294.5322.30.9

Shelter

322.665326.544329.9772.31.1

Rent of primary residence

316.492319.094322.9792.01.2

Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1)

344.154348.321351.2412.10.8

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1)

344.154348.321351.2412.10.8

Fuels and utilities

258.323271.941270.7734.8-0.4

Household energy

218.131227.904237.7779.04.3

Energy services

213.319222.429232.3338.94.5

Electricity

202.287208.845220.5399.05.6

Utility (piped) gas service

175.884195.329196.41911.70.6

Household furnishings and operations

180.765181.269182.2210.80.5

Apparel

136.305141.401135.721-0.4-4.0

Transportation

224.112228.254218.362-2.6-4.3

Private transportation

215.470218.584209.886-2.6-4.0

Motor fuel

306.037319.319284.058-7.2-11.0

Gasoline (all types)

306.179319.363283.979-7.3-11.1

Gasoline, unleaded regular (2)

319.042332.863295.533-7.4-11.2

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (2) (3)

261.421272.546---

Gasoline, unleaded premium (2)

307.398320.364286.446-6.8-10.6

Medical care

413.157420.045---

Recreation (4)

149.511148.429148.738-0.50.2

Education and communication (4)

145.910146.082146.6940.50.4

Other goods and services

369.027372.694370.9990.5-0.5
 

Commodity and service group

 
 

All Items

261.679265.251265.0391.3-0.1

Commodities

199.269201.906197.980-0.6-1.9

Commodities less food & beverages

178.250180.354173.024-2.9-4.1

Nondurables less food & beverages

202.309206.847194.996-3.6-5.7

Durables

151.744150.520149.613-1.4-0.6

Services

317.006321.399324.3582.30.9
 

Special aggregate indexes

 
 

All items less medical care

254.465257.887257.4171.2-0.2

All items less shelter

238.706242.288240.3520.7-0.8

Commodities less food

181.919184.177177.202-2.6-3.8

Nondurables

222.081226.220221.091-0.4-2.3

Nondurables less food

207.905212.555201.521-3.1-5.2

Services less rent of shelter (1)

327.316333.407335.8452.60.7

Services less medical care services

307.078311.069313.6952.20.8

Energy

267.374279.152261.787-2.1-6.2

All items less energy

262.874265.795267.1501.60.5

All items less food and energy

269.167271.964273.0261.40.4

Footnotes
(1) Index is on a December 1982=100 base.
(2) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.
(3) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
(4) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
 

- Data not available.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Thursday, February 26, 2015