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News Release Information

17-87-SAN
Wednesday, January 18, 2017

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

Consumer Price Index, Portland – Second Half 2016

Area prices were up 1.8 percent over the past six months, up 2.6 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Portland Area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 1.8 percent in the second half of 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that this latest six-month increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and gasoline. (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 rose 2.6 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices declined 3.9 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.6 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices edged up 0.1 percent in the second half of 2016. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home advanced 1.3 percent, but prices for food at home decreased 0.8 percent.

Over the year, food prices declined 0.3 percent. Prices for food at home decreased 1.6 percent, but prices for food away from home were 1.5 percent higher than a year ago.

Energy

The energy index advanced 6.0 percent since the first half of 2016. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (10.5 percent). Prices for electricity rose 1.8 percent, but prices for natural gas service fell 0.8 percent.

Energy prices declined 3.9 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-6.7 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service decreased 5.8 percent, and prices for electricity decreased 0.5 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.9 percent in the latest six-month period. Higher prices for shelter (3.7 percent) and recreation (1.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for medical care (-0.9 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.8 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 3.6 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (6.8 percent) and education and communication (1.6 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in medical care (-1.7 percent), and apparel (-0.1 percent).

Table A. Portland CPI-U semi-annual and annual percent changes (not seasonally adjusted)
Month201120122013201420152016
Semi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnualSemi-annualAnnual

First Half

1.82.61.22.51.32.21.02.60.11.30.71.7

Second Half

1.33.10.92.11.52.81.22.31.01.11.82.6

The First Half of 2017 Consumer Price Index for the Portland-Salem, OR is scheduled to be released on July 14, 2017.


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 Portland-Salem, OR, WA metropolitan area covered in this release consists of Clackamas, Columbia, Marion, Multnomah, Polk, Washington, and Yamhill Counties in the State of Oregon and Clark County in the State of Washington.

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

Portland-Salem, OR-WA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

 
Semiannual average indexes
 
Percent change to
2nd half 2016 from-
2nd half
2015
1st half
2016
2nd half
2016
2nd half
2015
1st half
2016

Expenditure category

 
 

All items

245.405247.143251.7102.61.8

All items (1967=100)

718.442723.531736.903--

Food and beverages

232.739232.297232.8220.00.2

Food

235.428234.485234.769-0.30.1

Food at home

219.360217.569215.919-1.6-0.8

Food away from home

261.379261.834265.2261.51.3

Alcoholic beverages

205.985210.728213.6793.71.4

Housing

248.253254.357262.2285.63.1

Shelter

292.802301.740312.8186.83.7

Rent of primary residence

292.109302.277314.2957.64.0

Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)

305.104314.407325.0236.53.4

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)

305.104314.407325.0236.53.4

Fuels and utilities

262.123257.600262.8940.32.1

Household energy

208.248202.297204.951-1.61.3

Energy services

256.444248.908251.943-1.81.2

Electricity

300.854294.026299.251-0.51.8

Utility (piped) gas service

165.000156.704155.421-5.8-0.8

Household furnishings and operations

103.998105.882105.0481.0-0.8

Apparel

126.788126.307126.708-0.10.3

Transportation

217.482213.566219.1200.82.6

Private transportation

220.921214.429223.4781.24.2

Motor fuel

231.202195.237215.924-6.610.6

Gasoline (all types)

233.415197.111217.892-6.710.5

Gasoline, unleaded regular(2)

230.443193.746214.414-7.010.7

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(2)(3)

199.685170.250188.367-5.710.6

Gasoline, unleaded premium(2)

219.688188.269207.417-5.610.2

Medical care

540.855536.015531.392-1.7-0.9

Recreation(4)

108.598107.822109.3390.71.4

Education and communication(4)

113.115114.347114.8821.60.5

Other goods and services

469.041467.414474.0171.11.4
 

Commodity and service group

 
 

All Items

245.405247.143251.7102.61.8

Commodities

177.714174.372175.305-1.40.5

Commodities less food & beverages

150.988146.300147.438-2.40.8

Nondurables less food & beverages

188.622178.594181.847-3.61.8

Durables

111.079111.463110.644-0.4-0.7

Services

313.596320.472328.7494.82.6
 

Special aggregate indexes

 
 

All items less medical care

232.264234.220239.0882.92.1

All items less shelter

227.369226.027227.8890.20.8

Commodities less food

152.895148.582149.794-2.00.8

Nondurables

209.410204.134205.991-1.60.9

Nondurables less food

188.852180.026183.230-3.01.8

Services less rent of shelter(1)

345.369349.313353.4092.31.2

Services less medical care services

297.989305.090313.8365.32.9

Energy

218.945198.429210.410-3.96.0

All items less energy

250.870254.398258.4423.01.6

All items less food and energy

255.632260.086264.9163.61.9

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: Wednesday, January 18, 2017