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News Release Information

24-1906-SAN
Wednesday, September 11, 2024

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

Consumer Price Index, West Region — August 2024

Area prices were up 0.1 percent over the past month, up 2.2 percent from a year ago

Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.1 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The August 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 2.2 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices increased 2.3 percent. Energy prices declined 6.4 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.9 percent over the year. (See table 1.)  

Food

Food prices advanced 0.2 percent for the month of August. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 0.2 percent, largely due to higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (1.2 percent) and dairy and related products (1.2 percent). Prices for food away from home increased 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 2.3 percent. Prices for food at home rose 0.7 percent since a year ago, led by higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (2.8 percent). Prices for food away from home rose 4.8 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 0.9 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-1.7 percent). Prices for natural gas service increased 1.2 percent, while prices for electricity were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices declined 6.4 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-12.6 percent). Prices for natural gas service declined 5.3 percent, while prices paid for electricity increased 4.6 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.1 percent in August. Higher prices for apparel (1.9 percent) and shelter (0.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for new and used motor vehicles (-0.3 percent), household furnishings and operations (-0.1 percent), and recreation (-0.1 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 2.9 percent. Components contributing to the increase included medical care (4.9 percent) and shelter (4.2 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in new and used motor vehicles (-4.1 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-1.6 percent).

Table A. West region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted
Month 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
1-month 12-month 1-month 12-month 1-month 12-month 1-month 12-month 1-month 12-month

January

0.3 2.9 0.2 1.4 0.9 7.7 0.9 6.3 0.7 3.3

February

0.4 3.1 0.5 1.6 0.8 8.1 0.5 6.0 0.4 3.2

March

-0.2 2.5 0.7 2.4 1.3 8.7 0.5 5.1 0.9 3.6

April

-0.4 1.3 1.0 3.9 0.7 8.3 0.5 4.9 0.6 3.7

May

0.1 0.8 0.8 4.7 0.8 8.3 0.4 4.5 0.1 3.3

June

0.4 1.2 0.9 5.1 1.2 8.8 0.3 3.5 -0.2 2.8

July

0.5 1.7 0.6 5.2 0.1 8.3 0.1 3.5 -0.1 2.6

August

0.3 1.9 0.2 5.0 0.0 8.1 0.4 3.9 0.1 2.2

September

0.0 1.6 0.2 5.3 0.3 8.3 0.4 3.9

October

0.2 1.2 0.8 6.0 0.7 8.1 0.1 3.3

November

0.0 1.4 0.5 6.5 -0.4 7.1 -0.4 3.3

December

-0.1 1.5 0.4 7.1 -0.4 6.2 -0.1 3.6

The September 2024 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on October 10, 2024.


Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index for the West Region is published monthly. 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 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, 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 West Region covered in this release is comprised of the following thirteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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

West (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

Indexes Percent change from-
Historical
data
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024
Aug.
2024
Aug.
2023
Jun.
2024
Jul.
2024

Expenditure category

All Items

333.662 333.174 333.442 2.2 -0.1 0.1

All items (December 1977=100)

539.346 538.558 538.991 - - -

Food and beverages

341.948 342.109 342.688 2.3 0.2 0.2

Food

344.320 344.560 345.168 2.3 0.2 0.2

Food at home

320.676 320.604 321.112 0.7 0.1 0.2

Cereals and bakery products

333.867 333.374 333.764 -0.6 0.0 0.1

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

348.945 349.628 353.824 2.8 1.4 1.2

Dairy and related products

284.165 283.481 286.959 0.8 1.0 1.2

Fruits and vegetables

400.111 399.269 400.473 1.0 0.1 0.3

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials

223.986 223.390 223.332 -0.8 -0.3 0.0

Other food at home

279.187 279.686 276.891 0.2 -0.8 -1.0

Food away from home

377.964 378.716 379.477 4.8 0.4 0.2

Alcoholic beverages

305.628 304.572 304.718 2.2 -0.3 0.0

Housing

373.583 373.742 374.674 3.5 0.3 0.2

Shelter

429.865 431.089 432.345 4.2 0.6 0.3

Rent of primary residence(1)

456.998 459.088 460.199 4.1 0.7 0.2

Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)(2)

451.562 453.221 454.992 4.3 0.8 0.4

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)

451.333 452.990 454.750 4.3 0.8 0.4

Fuels and utilities

427.383 420.812 422.014 3.1 -1.3 0.3

Household energy

376.274 366.218 366.997 2.1 -2.5 0.2

Energy services(1)

379.943 369.478 370.385 2.3 -2.5 0.2

Electricity(1)

421.973 412.405 412.323 4.6 -2.3 0.0

Utility (piped) gas service(1)

301.603 287.908 291.485 -5.3 -3.4 1.2

Household furnishings and operations

157.596 156.646 156.422 -1.6 -0.7 -0.1

Apparel

126.699 124.486 126.865 0.6 0.1 1.9

Transportation

284.482 281.529 279.281 -1.0 -1.8 -0.8

Private transportation

282.659 280.529 279.038 -0.8 -1.3 -0.5

New and used motor vehicles(3)

123.370 123.294 122.903 -4.1 -0.4 -0.3

New vehicles

175.470 175.298 175.077 -1.4 -0.2 -0.1

New cars and trucks(3)(4)

- - - - - -

New cars(4)

173.291 173.095 172.778 -2.1 -0.3 -0.2

Used cars and trucks

173.893 171.475 170.376 -11.0 -2.0 -0.6

Motor fuel

350.324 342.312 336.506 -12.7 -3.9 -1.7

Gasoline (all types)

349.287 341.171 335.351 -12.6 -4.0 -1.7

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

344.810 336.688 330.830 -12.9 -4.1 -1.7

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

334.779 327.111 321.677 -11.9 -3.9 -1.7

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

345.038 337.418 332.076 -11.2 -3.8 -1.6

Medical Care

609.095 611.794 611.401 4.9 0.4 -0.1

Medical care commodities

476.071 479.551 476.510 3.4 0.1 -0.6

Medical care services

650.175 652.617 653.074 5.2 0.4 0.1

Professional services

424.767 426.774 426.918 4.2 0.5 0.0

Recreation(3)

131.248 131.227 131.086 0.2 -0.1 -0.1

Education and communication(3)

143.827 143.742 144.345 0.9 0.4 0.4

Tuition, other school fees, and child care(6)

1,675.543 1,672.482 1,696.525 3.2 1.3 1.4

Other goods and services

554.723 554.326 555.140 1.6 0.1 0.1

Commodity and Service Group

All Items

333.662 333.174 333.442 2.2 -0.1 0.1

Commodities

227.716 226.547 226.365 -1.7 -0.6 -0.1

Commodities less food & beverages

174.207 172.630 172.188 -4.1 -1.2 -0.3

Nondurables less food & beverages

233.627 230.925 230.838 -3.8 -1.2 0.0

Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel

308.662 305.596 303.848 -5.0 -1.6 -0.6

Durables

122.672 121.907 121.299 -4.6 -1.1 -0.5

Services

432.389 432.604 433.320 4.5 0.2 0.2

Rent of shelter(2)

458.400 459.735 461.081 4.3 0.6 0.3

Transportation services

426.172 422.480 419.338 10.1 -1.6 -0.7

Other services

414.914 416.073 417.241 2.1 0.6 0.3

Special aggregate indexes:

All items less medical care

320.974 320.354 320.649 2.0 -0.1 0.1

All items less food

332.105 331.508 331.725 2.2 -0.1 0.1

All items less shelter

295.719 294.494 294.342 1.0 -0.5 -0.1

Commodities less food

179.008 177.424 176.990 -3.8 -1.1 -0.2

Nondurables

287.650 286.295 286.525 -0.5 -0.4 0.1

Nondurables less food

239.151 236.517 236.440 -3.4 -1.1 0.0

Nondurables less food and apparel

307.879 304.990 303.406 -4.4 -1.5 -0.5

Services less rent of shelter(2)

448.076 446.783 446.722 4.9 -0.3 0.0

Services less medical care services

417.045 417.114 417.845 4.4 0.2 0.2

Energy

368.735 359.673 356.605 -6.4 -3.3 -0.9

All items less energy

334.128 334.164 334.639 2.8 0.2 0.1

All items less food and energy

333.265 333.268 333.723 2.9 0.1 0.1

Commodities less food and energy commodities

160.602 159.623 159.695 -2.3 -0.6 0.0

Energy commodities

356.599 348.643 342.758 -12.6 -3.9 -1.7

Services less energy services

437.197 437.954 438.663 4.6 0.3 0.2

Footnotes
(1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator.
(2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base.
(3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
(4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.
(5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
(6) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base.

- Data not available
Regions defined as the four Census regions. West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2024