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News Release Information

21-1853-SAN
Wednesday, October 13, 2021

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

Consumer Price Index, Riverside Area – September 2021

Area prices were up 0.8 percent over the past two months, up 6.8 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Riverside area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.8 percent for the two months ending in September 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the September increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and apparel. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 6.8 percent. Food prices increased 4.2 percent. Energy prices jumped 27.0 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 5.2 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 1.1 percent for the two months ending in September. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home advanced 1.3 percent, led by higher prices for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (4.0 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (2.3 percent). Prices for food away from home rose 0.8 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 4.2 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 4.3 percent since a year ago, influenced by a jump in prices of 14.2 percent for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs. Prices for food away from home rose 4.1 percent.

Energy

The energy index rose 1.4 percent for the two months ending in September. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (1.4 percent). Prices for electricity rose 1.7 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 1.1 percent for the same period.

Energy prices surged 27.0 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (36.0 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service jumped 16.0 percent, and prices for electricity jumped 15.5 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for apparel (5.9 percent), new vehicles (4.2 percent), and shelter (1.7 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-5.4 percent), recreation (-4.1 percent), and household furnishings and operations (-0.8 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 5.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included new and used motor vehicles (18.2 percent), household furnishings and operations (6.1 percent), and shelter (4.9 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in recreation (-2.7 percent) and apparel (-2.0 percent).

The November 2021 Consumer Price Index for the Riverside area is scheduled to be released on December 10, 2021.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on September 2021 Consumer Price Index Data

Data collection by personal visit for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) program has been suspended since March 16, 2020. When possible, data normally collected by personal visit were collected either online or by phone. Additionally, data collection in September was affected by the temporary closing or limited operations of certain types of establishments. These factors resulted in an increase in the number of prices considered temporarily unavailable and imputed.

While the CPI program attempted to collect as much data as possible, many indexes are based on smaller amounts of collected prices than usual, and a small number of indexes that are normally published were not published this month. Additional information is available at https://www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-consumer-price-index.htm.


Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures 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 U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. 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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metropolitan area includes Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in 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

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (December 2017=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

IndexesPercent change from-
Historical
data
Jul.
2021
Aug.
2021
Sep.
2021
Sep.
2020
Jul.
2021
Aug.
2021

Expenditure category

All items

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0
114.682-115.5576.80.8-

Food and beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF
114.876-116.2134.11.2-

Food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF1
115.351-116.5644.21.1-

Food at home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF11
114.183113.869115.6554.31.31.6

Cereals and bakery products

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF111
119.875-119.8933.60.0-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF112
118.483-121.15814.22.3-

Dairy and related products

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEFJ
108.333-105.590-1.9-2.5-

Fruits and vegetables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF113
114.204-116.447-0.62.0-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF114
115.090-119.6763.84.0-

Other food at home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF115
109.189-109.6251.70.4-

Food away from home

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEFV
116.163-117.0664.10.8-

Alcoholic beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAF116
106.547-110.2942.23.5-

Housing

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAH
115.204-116.8485.71.4-

Shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAH1
114.225114.983116.1734.91.71.0

Rent of primary residence

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEHA
114.534115.176116.5784.31.81.2

Owners' equiv. rent of residences

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEHC
114.070114.961115.8564.41.60.8

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEHC01
114.070114.961115.8564.41.60.8

Fuels and utilities

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAH2
126.873-128.31111.31.1-

Household energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAH21
129.340130.444131.38215.21.60.7

Energy services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEHF
130.160131.270132.17815.61.60.7

Electricity

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEHF01
125.387126.319127.49115.51.70.9

Utility (piped) gas service

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEHF02
148.992150.838150.63616.01.1-0.1

Household furnishings and operations

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAH3
109.019-108.1776.1-0.8-

Apparel

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAA
99.178-105.003-2.05.9-

Transportation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAT
123.234-122.63421.6-0.5-

Private transportation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAT1
125.090-125.20822.60.1-

New and used motor vehicles

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSETA
114.513-113.72818.2-0.7-

New vehicles

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSETA01
109.450-114.09012.54.2-

Used cars and trucks

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSETA02
144.266-136.48823.5-5.4-

Motor fuel

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSETB
139.197140.639141.08936.01.40.3

Gasoline (all types)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSETB01
139.544141.036141.45936.01.40.3

Gasoline, unleaded regular(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSS47014
140.051141.559141.97736.61.40.3

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSS47015
140.177141.640142.07734.21.40.3

Gasoline, unleaded premium(1)

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSS47016
136.760138.188138.62433.41.40.3

Motor vehicle insurance

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSETE
124.119-123.9146.5-0.2-

Medical care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAM
111.171-111.5581.80.3-

Recreation

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAR
104.158-99.851-2.7-4.1-

Education and communication

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAE
109.439-109.8052.80.3-

Tuition, other school fees, and child care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSEEB
119.305-120.1780.80.7-

Other goods and services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAG
114.563-115.8336.11.1-

Commodity and service group

All items

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0
114.682-115.5576.80.8-

Commodities

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAC
115.009-116.2149.41.0-

Commodities less food & beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSACL11
115.045-116.17312.71.0-

Nondurables less food & beverages

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSANL11
115.722-118.24915.12.2-

Durables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAD
113.748-113.38010.1-0.3-

Services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAS
114.594-115.2775.30.6-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0L5
114.925-115.8347.10.8-

All items less shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0L2
115.048-115.2938.00.2-

Commodities less food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSACL1
114.765-115.96612.41.0-

Nondurables

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSAN
115.272-117.1679.01.6-

Nondurables less food

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSANL1
115.192-117.78314.42.2-

Services less rent of shelter

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSASL2RS
115.055-113.9746.1-0.9-

Services less medical care services

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSASL5
114.599-115.3605.70.7-

Energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0E
135.842137.153137.80627.01.40.5

All items less energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0LE
112.816-113.5965.00.7-

All items less food and energy

Go to web page with historical data for series CUURS49CSA0L1E
112.440-113.1495.20.6-

Footnotes
(1) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.

- Data not available
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2021