Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.2 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Chris Rosenlund noted that the July increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter. (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 3.4 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices rose 2.2 percent. Energy prices fell 3.8 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 4.2 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, July 2021–July 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jul 2021	3.9	2.3
Aug 2021	4.0	2.3
Sep 2021	4.6	3.0
Oct 2021	5.4	3.4
Nov 2021	6.0	3.6
Dec 2021	6.6	4.4
Jan 2022	7.5	5.5
Feb 2022	7.4	5.9
Mar 2022	8.5	6.2
Apr 2022	7.9	5.8
May 2022	8.0	5.8
Jun 2022	8.6	6.0
Jul 2022	7.7	5.7
Aug 2022	7.6	6.2
Sep 2022	7.8	6.3
Oct 2022	7.5	6.0
Nov 2022	6.0	5.2
Dec 2022	4.9	4.5
Jan 2023	5.8	4.5
Feb 2023	5.1	4.5
Mar 2023	3.7	4.3
Apr 2023	3.8	4.5
May 2023	3.2	4.3
Jun 2023	2.5	4.0
Jul 2023	2.7	3.4
Aug 2023	3.3	3.5
Sep 2023	3.2	3.2
Oct 2023	2.4	2.7
Nov 2023	2.8	2.8
Dec 2023	3.5	3.4
Jan 2024	2.5	3.7
Feb 2024	3.4	3.8
Mar 2024	4.0	4.3
Apr 2024	3.9	3.8
May 2024	3.9	3.8
Jun 2024	3.2	3.6
Jul 2024	3.4	4.2

Food prices decreased 0.1 percent for the month of July. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home declined 0.5 percent, with lower prices in five of the six grocery categories. Prices for food away from home advanced 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 2.2 percent. Prices for food at home decreased 0.1 percent since a year ago, led by lower prices for fruits and vegetables (-3.5 percent). Prices for food away from home advanced 5.0 percent.

The energy index decreased 0.9 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-3.0 percent). Prices for natural gas service advanced 3.4 percent, and prices for electricity increased 1.7 percent for the same period.

Energy prices fell 3.8 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-5.6 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service moved down 8.3 percent, while prices for electricity rose 0.7 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3 percent in July. Higher prices for medical care (1.3 percent) and shelter (0.5 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-1.6 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-1.0 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included medical care (6.4 percent) and shelter (5.6 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in new and used motor vehicles (-3.1 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-2.5 percent).

The August 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on September 11, 2024.

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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metropolitan area includes Los Angeles and Orange Counties in California.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes				Percent change from-
	Historical data	May 2024	Jun. 2024	Jul. 2024	Jul. 2023	May 2024	Jun. 2024
Expenditure category
All items		332.956	332.357	332.928	3.4	0.0	0.2
All items (1967=100)		983.700	981.930	983.616	-	-	-
Food and beverages		338.302	337.624	337.127	2.1	-0.3	-0.1
Food		340.783	340.124	339.651	2.2	-0.3	-0.1
Food at home		324.389	320.069	318.628	-0.1	-1.8	-0.5
Cereals and bakery products		343.760	342.228	341.760	-2.4	-0.6	-0.1
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		358.451	356.286	355.284	4.2	-0.9	-0.3
Dairy and related products		297.772	292.577	300.092	-0.3	0.8	2.6
Fruits and vegetables		424.752	405.043	404.396	-3.5	-4.8	-0.2
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		306.517	300.753	294.232	-3.3	-4.0	-2.2
Other food at home		264.576	266.007	263.174	1.3	-0.5	-1.1
Food away from home		354.603	358.065	358.686	5.0	1.2	0.2
Alcoholic beverages		281.818	280.885	280.061	-0.1	-0.6	-0.3
Housing		381.402	382.279	384.559	4.8	0.8	0.6
Shelter		438.671	440.257	442.490	5.6	0.9	0.5
Rent of primary residence(2)		462.776	464.130	467.990	5.2	1.1	0.8
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)		454.458	456.384	459.086	5.9	1.0	0.6
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)		454.432	456.357	459.060	5.9	1.0	0.6
Fuels and utilities		473.671	466.055	482.383	3.4	1.8	3.5
Household energy		416.045	406.695	415.012	-1.3	-0.2	2.0
Energy services(2)		414.487	405.123	413.420	-1.3	-0.3	2.0
Electricity(2)		498.493	482.766	490.758	0.7	-1.6	1.7
Utility (piped) gas service(2)		283.320	286.096	295.848	-8.3	4.4	3.4
Household furnishings and operations		129.515	130.103	128.799	-2.5	-0.6	-1.0
Apparel		122.459	120.005	118.044	0.9	-3.6	-1.6
Transportation		278.824	272.825	269.571	1.7	-3.3	-1.2
Private transportation		278.512	274.080	272.088	1.7	-2.3	-0.7
New and used motor vehicles(4)		111.381	110.129	110.712	-3.1	-0.6	0.5
New vehicles(1)		191.985	191.809	191.569	-2.5	-0.2	-0.1
Used cars and trucks(1)		348.271	348.984	344.608	-10.6	-1.1	-1.3
Motor fuel		391.911	365.320	354.443	-5.6	-9.6	-3.0
Gasoline (all types)		382.348	356.202	345.473	-5.6	-9.6	-3.0
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		383.079	356.433	345.558	-5.8	-9.8	-3.1
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		365.426	341.277	331.239	-5.4	-9.4	-2.9
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		366.493	342.954	333.101	-5.0	-9.1	-2.9
Medical care		578.777	585.589	592.969	6.4	2.5	1.3
Recreation(6)		120.891	121.191	121.592	-2.3	0.6	0.3
Education and communication(6)		159.971	160.716	160.733	2.3	0.5	0.0
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		2,297.171	2,311.711	2,316.780	3.4	0.9	0.2
Other goods and services		542.404	538.631	540.020	5.3	-0.4	0.3
Commodity and service group
All items		332.956	332.357	332.928	3.4	0.0	0.2
Commodities		219.639	217.773	216.573	-0.9	-1.4	-0.6
Commodities less food & beverages		161.133	158.871	157.442	-2.8	-2.3	-0.9
Nondurables less food & beverages		229.122	222.781	220.300	-2.1	-3.9	-1.1
Durables		99.770	100.109	99.474	-3.8	-0.3	-0.6
Services		433.914	434.542	436.796	5.7	0.7	0.5
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		322.161	321.292	321.609	3.2	-0.2	0.1
All items less shelter		286.127	284.481	284.266	1.9	-0.7	-0.1
Commodities less food		166.396	164.135	162.700	-2.7	-2.2	-0.9
Nondurables		284.811	281.339	279.864	0.2	-1.7	-0.5
Nondurables less food		235.364	229.262	226.847	-2.0	-3.6	-1.1
Services less rent of shelter(3)		439.147	438.195	440.527	5.8	0.3	0.5
Services less medical care services		419.464	419.824	421.710	5.6	0.5	0.4
Energy		404.015	384.090	380.754	-3.8	-5.8	-0.9
All items less energy		330.905	331.310	332.087	3.9	0.4	0.2
All items less food and energy		329.313	329.903	330.897	4.2	0.5	0.3
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.