Prices in the San Francisco area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), declined 0.5 percent for the two months ending in April 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the April decrease was influenced by lower prices for gasoline and apparel. (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 advanced 1.1 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.5 percent over the year. Food prices rose 4.4 percent. Energy prices fell 13.9 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 1.6 percent for the two months ending in April. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home rose 5.5 percent, but prices for food away from home declined 2.3 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 4.4 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 6.7 percent since a year ago, and prices for food away from home increased 2.0 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 7.6 percent for the two months ending in April. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-16.5 percent). Prices for natural gas service jumped 12.5 percent, but prices for electricity decreased 0.8 percent for the same period.

Energy prices fell 13.9 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-27.8 percent). Prices paid for electricity increased 7.7 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 0.6 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.5 percent in the latest two-month period. Lower prices for apparel (-12.8 percent) were partially offset by higher prices for household furnishings and operations (1.9 percent), education and communication (0.5 percent), and medical care (0.4 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.5 percent. Components contributing to the increase included household furnishings and operations (5.4 percent) and shelter (2.8 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in apparel (-12.0 percent).

Table A. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
February	0.9	3.0	0.8	3.4	1.4	3.6	0.5	3.5	0.9	2.9
April	0.7	2.7	1.1	3.8	0.8	3.2	1.2	4.0	-0.5	1.1
June	0.6	2.7	0.3	3.5	0.9	3.9	0.2	3.2
August	0.7	3.1	0.2	3.0	0.6	4.3	0.1	2.7
October	0.9	3.6	0.6	2.7	0.7	4.4	1.0	3.0
December	-0.3	3.5	-0.1	2.9	0.1	4.5	-0.5	2.5

The June 2020 Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco area is scheduled to be released on July 14, 2020

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 94 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 75 urban areas across the country from about 5,000 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 (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 Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo Counties 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 and percent changes for selected periods

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Feb. 2020	Mar. 2020	Apr. 2020	Apr. 2019	Feb. 2020	Mar. 2020
Expenditure category
All items	299.690	-	298.074	1.1	-0.5	-
All items (1967=100)	921.330	-	916.364	-	-	-
Food and beverages	294.897	-	299.485	3.9	1.6	-
Food	293.860	-	298.539	4.4	1.6	-
Food at home	255.459	261.013	269.499	6.7	5.5	3.3
Cereals and bakery products	260.713	-	271.507	5.2	4.1	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	259.584	-	286.649	14.5	10.4	-
Dairy and related products	276.983	-	286.772	9.6	3.5	-
Fruits and vegetables	337.537	-	350.323	2.2	3.8	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	205.500	-	215.232	5.4	4.7	-
Other food at home	215.951	-	224.227	3.3	3.8	-
Food away from home	338.700	-	330.932	2.0	-2.3	-
Food away from home	338.700	-	330.932	2.0	-2.3	-
Alcoholic beverages	310.927	-	314.451	-0.6	1.1	-
Housing	355.875	-	356.770	3.1	0.3	-
Shelter	406.369	408.835	406.463	2.8	0.0	-0.6
Rent of primary residence(2)	469.062	469.878	466.196	2.7	-0.6	-0.8
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)	435.428	436.202	433.239	2.2	-0.5	-0.7
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	435.428	436.202	433.239	2.2	-0.5	-0.7
Fuels and utilities	428.216	-	433.404	4.2	1.2	-
Household energy	371.120	373.737	376.787	4.8	1.5	0.8
Energy services(2)	372.547	375.304	378.732	5.1	1.7	0.9
Electricity(2)	405.709	406.932	402.571	7.7	-0.8	-1.1
Utility (piped) gas service(2)	286.953	294.682	322.823	0.6	12.5	9.5
Household furnishings and operations	143.846	-	146.647	5.4	1.9	-
Apparel	118.319	-	103.168	-12.0	-12.8	-
Transportation	207.576	-	194.267	-7.8	-6.4	-
Private transportation	199.614	-	187.999	-8.0	-5.8	-
New and used motor vehicles(4)	94.584	-	93.022	-0.2	-1.7	-
New vehicles(1)	158.826	-	155.978	-1.3	-1.8	-
Used cars and trucks(1)	247.896	-	250.754	-1.0	1.2	-
Motor fuel	251.171	235.263	209.994	-27.6	-16.4	-10.7
Gasoline (all types)	250.046	234.133	208.818	-27.8	-16.5	-10.8
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	249.274	233.790	207.452	-28.4	-16.8	-11.3
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	236.047	227.897	203.073	-23.7	-14.0	-10.9
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	239.787	222.019	202.433	-25.5	-15.6	-8.8
Motor vehicle insurance(1)	543.610	-	496.802	-3.8	-8.6	-
Medical care	545.970	-	548.136	2.0	0.4	-
Recreation(6)	119.462	-	119.902	0.5	0.4	-
Education and communication(6)	150.916	-	151.603	0.1	0.5	-
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,832.748	-	1,841.368	0.3	0.5	-
Other goods and services	506.920	-	511.625	2.4	0.9	-
Commodity and service group
All items	299.690	-	298.074	1.1	-0.5	-
Commodities	194.559	-	192.190	-1.9	-1.2	-
Commodities less food & beverages	141.125	-	135.594	-7.2	-3.9	-
Nondurables less food & beverages	186.302	-	174.114	-11.5	-6.5	-
Durables	97.551	-	97.191	-0.6	-0.4	-
Services	387.182	-	386.096	2.4	-0.3	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	289.597	-	287.854	1.0	-0.6	-
All items less shelter	255.428	-	252.856	-0.2	-1.0	-
Commodities less food	148.395	-	143.116	-6.7	-3.6	-
Nondurables	241.910	-	238.401	-2.2	-1.5	-
Nondurables less food	196.037	-	184.991	-10.1	-5.6	-
Services less rent of shelter(3)	379.913	-	376.932	1.7	-0.8	-
Services less medical care services	376.538	-	375.246	2.2	-0.3	-
Energy	300.439	291.818	277.682	-13.9	-7.6	-4.8
All items less energy	303.282	-	302.643	1.9	-0.2	-
All items less food and energy	305.596	-	304.121	1.5	-0.5	-
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base. (2) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (3) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (6) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.