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23-514-SAN
Tuesday, March 14, 2023
Prices in the Phoenix area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.2 percent for the two months ending in February 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the February increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and food. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)
Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 8.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices increased 10.1 percent. Energy prices decreased 2.2 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 9.1 percent over the year. (See table 1.)
FoodFood prices increased 2.7 percent for the two months ending in February. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 1.9 percent, with higher prices in four of the six grocery categories. Prices for food away from home increased 4.0 percent for the same period.
Over the year, food prices increased 10.1 percent. Prices for food at home rose 8.6 percent since a year ago. Price increases across food at home expenditure categories ranged from 3.9 percent for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs to 14.6 percent for cereals and bakery products. Prices for food away from home advanced 12.3 percent.
EnergyThe energy index fell 1.0 percent for the two months ending in February. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-2.0 percent). Prices for electricity declined 0.2 percent, but prices for natural gas service rose 7.0 percent for the same period.
Energy prices decreased 2.2 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-4.8 percent). Prices paid for electricity declined 2.1 percent, but prices for natural gas service rose 14.3 percent during the past year).
All items less food and energyThe index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.1 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for apparel (5.8 percent), recreation (3.0 percent), and shelter (2.0 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-3.6 percent), household furnishings and operations (-1.6 percent), and medical care (-1.1 percent).
Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 9.1 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (16.1 percent), other goods and services (8.4 percent), and household furnishings and operations (8.1 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in used cars and trucks (-13.1 percent) and education and communication (-1.6 percent).
Month | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2-month | 12-month | 2-month | 12-month | 2-month | 12-month | 2-month | 12-month | 2-month | 12-month | |
February | -0.3 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 4.4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.1 | 10.9 | 1.2 | 8.5 |
April | 1.4 | 2.3 | -1.4 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 2.5 | 11.0 | ||
June | 1.0 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 5.4 | 3.1 | 12.3 | ||
August | 0.5 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 0.2 | 5.1 | 0.8 | 13.0 | ||
October | 1.4 | 3.8 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 2.2 | 7.1 | 1.4 | 12.1 | ||
December | -0.6 | 3.4 | -0.8 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 9.7 | -0.7 | 9.5 |
The April 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Phoenix area is scheduled to be released on May 10, 2023.
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 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan area covered in this release consists of Maricopa and Pinal Counties in the State of Arizona.
Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.
Item and Group | Indexes | Percent change from- | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Historical data | Dec. 2022 | Jan. 2023 | Feb. 2023 | Feb. 2022 | Dec. 2022 | Jan. 2023 | |
Expenditure category | |||||||
All items | 175.019 | - | 177.118 | 8.5 | 1.2 | - | |
Food and beverages | 180.605 | - | 185.120 | 9.8 | 2.5 | - | |
Food | 183.113 | - | 188.059 | 10.1 | 2.7 | - | |
Food at home | 179.806 | 181.502 | 183.177 | 8.6 | 1.9 | 0.9 | |
Cereals and bakery products | 229.000 | - | 236.654 | 14.6 | 3.3 | - | |
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs | 221.794 | - | 221.344 | 3.9 | -0.2 | - | |
Dairy and related products | 151.986 | - | 147.937 | 7.0 | -2.7 | - | |
Fruits and vegetables | 153.407 | - | 155.464 | 6.9 | 1.3 | - | |
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials | 130.530 | - | 140.726 | 6.6 | 7.8 | - | |
Other food at home | 178.558 | - | 182.781 | 12.2 | 2.4 | - | |
Food away from home | 190.016 | - | 197.658 | 12.3 | 4.0 | - | |
Alcoholic beverages | 153.531 | - | 153.131 | 6.1 | -0.3 | - | |
Housing | 195.435 | - | 198.429 | 14.1 | 1.5 | - | |
Shelter | 210.945 | 212.663 | 215.239 | 16.1 | 2.0 | 1.2 | |
Rent of primary residence | 225.420 | 227.174 | 229.687 | 19.5 | 1.9 | 1.1 | |
Owners' equiv. rent of residences | 209.839 | 211.639 | 213.012 | 15.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | |
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence | 209.839 | 211.639 | 213.012 | 15.3 | 1.5 | 0.6 | |
Fuels and utilities | 179.001 | - | 179.915 | 3.6 | 0.5 | - | |
Household energy | 172.635 | 172.193 | 173.373 | -0.3 | 0.4 | 0.7 | |
Energy services | 171.974 | 171.342 | 172.683 | -0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | |
Electricity | 178.936 | 178.190 | 178.530 | -2.1 | -0.2 | 0.2 | |
Utility (piped) gas service | 137.799 | 137.994 | 147.484 | 14.3 | 7.0 | 6.9 | |
Household furnishings and operations | 118.502 | - | 116.547 | 8.1 | -1.6 | - | |
Apparel | 142.771 | - | 150.993 | 3.1 | 5.8 | - | |
Transportation | 152.453 | - | 150.637 | -0.5 | -1.2 | - | |
Private transportation | 156.819 | - | 155.042 | -0.9 | -1.1 | - | |
New and used motor vehicles | 111.740 | - | 110.100 | - | -1.5 | - | |
New vehicles | 111.698 | - | 112.629 | - | 0.8 | - | |
Used cars and trucks | 115.509 | - | 111.367 | -13.1 | -3.6 | - | |
Motor fuel | 310.672 | 295.702 | 304.123 | -3.8 | -2.1 | 2.8 | |
Gasoline (all types) | 307.566 | 292.689 | 301.355 | -4.8 | -2.0 | 3.0 | |
Gasoline, unleaded regular(1) | 309.031 | 294.025 | 303.254 | -4.9 | -1.9 | 3.1 | |
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(1) | 322.648 | 305.342 | 313.107 | -4.7 | -3.0 | 2.5 | |
Gasoline, unleaded premium(1) | 306.268 | 291.832 | 298.484 | -4.1 | -2.5 | 2.3 | |
Medical care | 216.717 | - | 214.343 | - | -1.1 | - | |
Recreation | 126.186 | - | 129.937 | 1.3 | 3.0 | - | |
Education and communication | 118.733 | - | 117.865 | -1.6 | -0.7 | - | |
Tuition, other school fees, and child care | 221.088 | - | 223.710 | - | 1.2 | - | |
Other goods and services | 170.235 | - | 173.711 | 8.4 | 2.0 | - | |
Commodity and service group | |||||||
All items | 175.019 | - | 177.118 | 8.5 | 1.2 | - | |
Commodities | 145.681 | - | 146.706 | 2.9 | 0.7 | - | |
Commodities less food & beverages | 128.266 | - | 127.715 | -0.8 | -0.4 | - | |
Nondurables less food & beverages | 172.148 | - | 174.680 | 1.4 | 1.5 | - | |
Durables | 91.442 | - | 89.280 | -3.1 | -2.4 | - | |
Services | 195.554 | - | 198.468 | 11.9 | 1.5 | - | |
Special aggregate indexes | |||||||
All items less medical care | 172.799 | - | 175.184 | 8.8 | 1.4 | - | |
All items less shelter | 157.062 | - | 158.070 | 3.9 | 0.6 | - | |
Commodities less food | 129.315 | - | 128.768 | -0.6 | -0.4 | - | |
Nondurables | 177.293 | - | 180.915 | 6.0 | 2.0 | - | |
Nondurables less food | 170.795 | - | 173.075 | 1.7 | 1.3 | - | |
Services less rent of shelter | 175.239 | - | 176.177 | 5.4 | 0.5 | - | |
Services less medical care services | 193.518 | - | 197.065 | 12.6 | 1.8 | - | |
Energy | 237.438 | 230.904 | 235.160 | -2.2 | -1.0 | 1.8 | |
All items less energy | 171.361 | - | 173.642 | 9.3 | 1.3 | - | |
All items less food and energy | 169.466 | - | 171.339 | 9.1 | 1.1 | - | |
Footnotes | |||||||
- Data not available |
Last Modified Date: Tuesday, March 14, 2023