Prices in the San Francisco area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.8 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. (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 5.3 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices increased 8.0 percent, and energy prices rose 8.6 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 4.6 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, February 2020–February 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Feb 2020	2.9	2.8
Apr 2020	1.1	1.5
Jun 2020	1.6	1.5
Aug 2020	1.6	1.2
Oct 2020	1.1	1.1
Dec 2020	2.0	1.4
Feb 2021	1.6	0.9
Apr 2021	3.8	2.9
Jun 2021	3.2	2.3
Aug 2021	3.7	2.5
Oct 2021	3.8	2.4
Dec 2021	4.2	2.8
Feb 2022	5.2	3.4
Apr 2022	5.0	2.7
Jun 2022	6.8	4.4
Aug 2022	5.7	4.1
Oct 2022	6.0	4.1
Dec 2022	4.9	4.0
Feb 2023	5.3	4.6

Food prices increased 1.2 percent for the two months ending in February. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 1.2 percent, with higher prices in three of the six subcategories. Prices for food away from home increased 1.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 8.0 percent. Prices for food at home rose 8.1 percent since a year ago. Price increases across food at home expenditure categories ranged from 5.3 percent for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs to 10.8 percent for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials. Prices for food away from home advanced 7.8 percent.

The energy index advanced 6.6 percent for the two months ending in February. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for natural gas service (18.0 percent). Prices for gasoline rose 4.6 percent, and prices for electricity increased 3.4 percent for the same period.

Energy prices rose 8.6 percent over the year, led by higher prices for natural gas service (29.1 percent). Prices paid for electricity increased 13.6 percent, but prices for gasoline declined 1.2 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for apparel (6.3 percent), household furnishings and operations (3.8 percent), and shelter (1.8 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-2.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.6 percent. Components contributing to the increase included household furnishings and operations (7.5 percent), and shelter (4.4 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in used cars and trucks (-11.9 percent).

The April 2023 Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco 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 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 individuals with sensory impairments 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

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

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		331.222	-	337.173	5.3	1.8	-
All items (1967=100)		1,018.268	-	1,036.563	-	-	-
Food and beverages		357.277	-	359.912	7.6	0.7	-
Food		359.081	-	363.265	8.0	1.2	-
Food at home		326.412	327.478	330.202	8.1	1.2	0.8
Cereals and bakery products		321.182	-	329.783	7.0	2.7	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		356.523	-	351.353	5.3	-1.5	-
Dairy and related products		345.389	-	331.704	9.8	-4.0	-
Fruits and vegetables		414.685	-	431.651	8.6	4.1	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		243.487	-	239.599	10.8	-1.6	-
Other food at home		279.542	-	289.097	9.4	3.4	-
Food away from home		394.357	-	398.992	7.8	1.2	-
Alcoholic beverages		338.666	-	323.971	2.6	-4.3	-
Housing		381.854	-	390.701	5.4	2.3	-
Shelter		426.481	430.591	434.093	4.4	1.8	0.8
Rent of primary residence(2)		487.480	490.031	491.874	4.8	0.9	0.4
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)		457.867	462.232	466.191	4.9	1.8	0.9
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)		457.867	462.232	466.191	4.9	1.8	0.9
Fuels and utilities		551.930	-	585.793	13.8	6.1	-
Household energy		515.010	552.293	558.268	19.0	8.4	1.1
Energy services(2)		516.458	553.863	560.531	19.1	8.5	1.2
Electricity(2)		542.853	561.548	561.548	13.6	3.4	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service(2)		464.003	530.248	547.333	29.1	18.0	3.2
Household furnishings and operations		165.874	-	172.101	7.5	3.8	-
Apparel		109.638	-	116.586	3.2	6.3	-
Transportation		243.553	-	248.587	4.2	2.1	-
Private transportation		244.479	-	248.047	2.8	1.5	-
New and used motor vehicles(4)		119.184	-	119.154	-	0.0	-
New vehicles(1)		194.236	-	195.768	-	0.8	-
Used cars and trucks(1)		340.493	-	331.660	-11.9	-2.6	-
Motor fuel		325.704	323.764	340.659	-0.8	4.6	5.2
Gasoline (all types)		323.357	321.434	338.264	-1.2	4.6	5.2
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		323.162	321.234	338.236	-1.3	4.7	5.3
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		303.156	301.207	316.639	-0.8	4.4	5.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		307.298	305.510	320.831	-0.7	4.4	5.0
Medical care		-	-	-	-	-	-
Recreation(6)		143.214	-	144.312	5.2	0.8	-
Education and communication(6)		160.184	-	160.458	3.2	0.2	-
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,943.403	-	-	-	-	-
Other goods and services		569.746	-	579.693	7.2	1.7	-
Commodity and service group
All items		331.222	-	337.173	5.3	1.8	-
Commodities		230.565	-	233.306	5.0	1.2	-
Commodities less food & beverages		164.586	-	166.994	2.8	1.5	-
Nondurables less food & beverages		213.305	-	219.813	3.4	3.1	-
Durables		116.497	-	116.778	-	0.2	-
Services		415.986	-	424.692	5.5	2.1	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care		320.590	-	326.809	5.4	1.9	-
All items less shelter		294.223	-	299.536	6.0	1.8	-
Commodities less food		172.119	-	174.188	2.9	1.2	-
Nondurables		286.723	-	291.607	6.0	1.7	-
Nondurables less food		222.980	-	228.172	3.3	2.3	-
Services less rent of shelter(3)		424.773	-	435.940	7.4	2.6	-
Services less medical care services		404.019	-	413.566	5.7	2.4	-
Energy		403.252	417.374	429.799	8.6	6.6	3.0
All items less energy		331.841	-	336.928	5.1	1.5	-
All items less food and energy		328.551	-	333.753	4.6	1.6	-
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.