Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.3 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The September increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and gasoline. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 2.0 percent.  (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices declined 4.8 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.0 percent over the year. (See table 1.) This is the 11^th month that this index has increased by more than 2.5 percent. (See chart 1.)

Food

Food prices crept up 0.1 percent for the month of September. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home inched up 0.1 percent. Prices for food at home were unchanged for the same period.

Over the year, food prices edged down 0.1 percent. Prices for food at home decreased 2.3 percent since a year ago, but prices for food away from home advanced 2.9 percent.

Energy

The energy index advanced 1.3 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (3.0 percent). Prices for natural gas service were virtually unchanged (-0.1 percent), and prices for electricity decreased 0.6 percent for the same period.

Energy prices declined 4.8 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-11.7 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service advanced 3.6 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 2.9 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.3 percent in September. Higher prices for apparel (2.2 percent) and shelter (0.5 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for education and communication (-0.4 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 3.0 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (5.2 percent) and medical care (4.8 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in household furnishings and operations (-1.1 percent) and education and communication (-1.0 percent).

Table A. West Region CPI-U monthly and annual percent changes (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2011		2012		2013		2014		2015		2016
	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual
January	0.5	1.4	0.4	2.6	0.3	1.7	0.3	1.7	-0.3	0.7	0.5	2.6
February	0.6	1.9	0.4	2.5	0.8	2.0	0.4	1.3	0.6	0.9	0.1	2.1
March	0.9	2.6	0.9	2.4	0.4	1.5	0.6	1.5	0.8	1.1	0.2	1.5
April	0.6	3.0	0.2	2.1	0.0	1.3	0.3	1.8	0.3	1.0	0.5	1.8
May	0.3	3.2	0.2	2.0	0.2	1.3	0.6	2.3	0.8	1.2	0.5	1.5
June	-0.2	3.1	-0.2	2.0	0.1	1.5	0.1	2.3	0.0	1.1	0.2	1.6
July	-0.1	2.9	-0.3	1.8	0.0	1.9	0.1	2.3	0.3	1.3	0.1	1.4
August	0.2	3.0	0.5	2.1	0.1	1.5	-0.1	2.1	-0.1	1.3	(1)0.0	(1)1.5
September	0.4	3.5	0.5	2.2	0.2	1.3	0.1	2.0	-0.2	1.0	0.3	2.0
October	0.0	3.4	0.4	2.5	-0.1	0.9	-0.1	2.0	0.0	1.1
November	-0.2	3.2	-0.7	1.9	-0.4	1.3	-0.6	1.7	-0.2	1.5
December	-0.3	2.7	-0.5	1.7	0.0	1.8	-0.5	1.3	-0.1	1.8
Footnotes (1) Revised. See box note at top of release for more information.

The October 2016 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on November 17, 2016.

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 6,000 housing units and approximately 24,000 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 West Region covered in this release is comprised of the following thirteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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 and percent changes for selected periods

West (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Jul. 2016	Aug. 2016	Sep. 2016	Sep. 2015	Jul. 2016	Aug. 2016
Expenditure category
All Items (6)	248.375	248.498	249.234	2.0	0.3	0.3
All items (December 1977=100) (6)	401.484	401.684	402.873
Food and beverages	251.396	251.107	251.375	0.0	0.0	0.1
Food	251.483	251.125	251.334	-0.1	-0.1	0.1
Food at home	245.520	244.517	244.627	-2.3	-0.4	0.0
Food away from home	258.704	259.267	259.616	2.9	0.4	0.1
Alcoholic beverages	246.919	247.565	248.625	2.4	0.7	0.4
Housing	265.868	266.962	268.004	4.3	0.8	0.4
Shelter	302.297	303.830	305.353	5.2	1.0	0.5
Rent of primary residence (1)	317.191	318.858	320.634	5.4	1.1	0.6
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	317.070	318.592	320.346	5.1	1.0	0.6
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	317.077	318.605	320.357	5.1	1.0	0.5
Fuels and utilities	289.254	292.102	291.756	3.2	0.9	-0.1
Household energy	252.217	255.258	254.309	3.2	0.8	-0.4
Energy services (1)	254.664	258.008	256.818	3.1	0.8	-0.5
Electricity (1)	282.942	283.658	281.990	2.9	-0.3	-0.6
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	203.315	213.155	213.032	3.6	4.8	-0.1
Household furnishings and operations	129.019	127.703	127.680	-1.1	-1.0	0.0
Apparel	116.579	119.204	121.771	1.1	4.5	2.2
Transportation	200.972	197.258	197.574	-2.5	-1.7	0.2
Private transportation	194.966	191.675	191.913	-2.7	-1.6	0.1
New and used motor vehicles (3)	102.117	100.866	99.901	-1.2	-2.2	-1.0
New vehicles	148.294	146.718	146.302	0.6	-1.3	-0.3
New cars and trucks (3) (4)	102.996	101.896	101.598	0.6	-1.4	-0.3
New cars (4)	145.919	144.370	144.427	0.1	-1.0	0.0
Used cars and trucks	139.344	138.690	136.440	-4.9	-2.1	-1.6
Motor fuel	212.239	201.320	207.233	-11.5	-2.4	2.9
Gasoline (all types)	211.507	200.512	206.433	-11.7	-2.4	3.0
Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)	208.904	197.945	203.841	-11.9	-2.4	3.0
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4) (5)	202.213	191.411	196.725	-12.2	-2.7	2.8
Gasoline, unleaded premium (4)	208.772	198.577	204.194	-10.5	-2.2	2.8
Medical Care (6)	469.671	472.902	473.509	4.8	0.8	0.1
Medical care commodities (6)	354.479	357.339	360.376	4.4	1.7	0.8
Medical care services (6)	506.440	509.765	509.451	4.9	0.6	-0.1
Professional services	348.740	351.269	351.639	3.9	0.8	0.1
Recreation (3)	112.010	112.195	112.587	1.6	0.5	0.3
Education and communication (3)	137.394	137.840	137.231	-1.0	-0.1	-0.4
Other goods and services	408.712	408.664	410.321	1.7	0.4	0.4
Commodity and Service Group
All Items (6)	248.375	248.498	249.234	2.0	0.3	0.3
Commodities (6)	178.451	177.492	178.227	-1.5	-0.1	0.4
Commodities less food & beverages (6)	142.160	140.982	141.867	-2.6	-0.2	0.6
Nondurables less food & beverages (6)	178.644	177.212	180.142	-2.5	0.8	1.7
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel (6)	222.430	218.381	221.613	-3.7	-0.4	1.5
Durables	108.534	107.597	106.801	-2.4	-1.6	-0.7
Services (6)	313.008	314.176	314.903	4.1	0.6	0.2
Rent of shelter (2)	321.703	323.347	324.978	5.2	1.0	0.5
Transportation services	292.409	289.217	288.181	2.4	-1.4	-0.4
Other services	341.692	342.714	342.846	1.5	0.3	0.0
Special aggregate indexes:
All items less medical care	238.262	238.248	238.988	1.8	0.3	0.3
All items less food (6)	248.063	248.261	249.078	2.4	0.4	0.3
All items less shelter (6)	227.626	227.149	227.554	0.3	0.0	0.2
Commodities less food (6)	146.094	144.956	145.853	-2.3	-0.2	0.6
Nondurables (6)	214.912	213.996	215.718	-1.1	0.4	0.8
Nondurables less food (6)	183.660	182.336	185.180	-2.1	0.8	1.6
Nondurables less food and apparel (6)	224.469	220.844	223.878	-3.1	-0.3	1.4
Services less rent of shelter (2) (6)	337.268	337.941	337.555	2.7	0.1	-0.1
Services less medical care services	299.554	300.579	301.371	4.0	0.6	0.3
Energy	232.523	227.710	230.628	-4.8	-0.8	1.3
All items less energy (6)	251.595	252.090	252.668	2.5	0.4	0.2
All items less food and energy (6)	252.383	253.024	253.667	3.0	0.5	0.3
Commodities less food and energy commodities (6)	139.244	139.264	139.560	-0.5	0.2	0.2
Energy commodities	216.414	205.360	211.422	-11.2	-2.3	3.0
Services less energy services (6)	317.531	318.567	319.415	4.1	0.6	0.3
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Index is on a December 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. (6) Data for May – August 2016 were revised.
Regions defined as the four Census regions. West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.