Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), crept up 0.2 percent in October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The October increase was influenced by higher prices for recreation and food. (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 increased 1.2 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.6 percent over the year. Food prices rose 5.1 percent. Energy prices fell 11.4 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.3 percent for the month of October. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home rose 0.3 percent influenced by higher prices for fruits and vegetables (1.4 percent). Prices for food away from home crept up 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 5.1 percent. Prices for food at home rose 5.1 percent, led by higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (7.4 percent). Prices for food away from home rose 5.1 percent since a year ago.

Energy

The energy index decreased 0.4 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-1.7 percent). Prices for natural gas service edged down 0.1 percent, but prices for electricity rose 1.4 percent for the same period.

Energy prices fell 11.4 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-21.0 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service advanced 6.6 percent, and prices for electricity increased 2.7 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.2 percent in October. Higher prices for recreation (0.8 percent) and new and used motor vehicles (0.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for household furnishings and operations (-0.7 percent) and medical care (-0.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.6 percent. Components contributing to the increase included medical care (3.6 percent) and shelter (1.9 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in motor vehicle insurance (-7.0 percent) and apparel (-4.1 percent).

Table A. West region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.5	2.6	0.5	2.5	0.5	3.1	0.2	2.7	0.3	2.9
February	0.1	2.1	0.6	3.0	0.5	3.1	0.2	2.4	0.4	3.1
March	0.2	1.5	0.3	3.1	0.4	3.2	0.4	2.4	-0.2	2.5
April	0.5	1.8	0.3	2.9	0.4	3.2	0.8	2.9	-0.4	1.3
May	0.5	1.5	0.2	2.6	0.5	3.5	0.5	2.9	0.1	0.8
June	0.2	1.6	0.0	2.5	0.2	3.6	0.0	2.7	0.4	1.2
July	0.1	1.4	0.1	2.5	0.1	3.6	0.0	2.7	0.5	1.7
August	0.0	1.5	0.2	2.7	0.2	3.6	0.1	2.6	0.3	1.9
September	0.3	2.0	0.5	2.9	0.3	3.4	0.3	2.6	0.0	1.6
October	0.3	2.3	0.3	2.9	0.4	3.5	0.5	2.8	0.2	1.2
November	-0.2	2.3	0.0	3.1	-0.2	3.3	-0.1	2.8
December	0.0	2.5	0.1	3.1	-0.2	3.1	-0.2	2.8

The November 2020 Consumer Price Index for the West Region is scheduled to be released on December 10, 2020.

Technical Note

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 population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total 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 5,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

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; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

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-
	Aug. 2020	Sep. 2020	Oct. 2020	Oct. 2019	Aug. 2020	Sep. 2020
Expenditure category
All Items	276.443	276.422	276.876	1.2	0.2	0.2
All items (December 1977=100)	446.855	446.821	447.555
Food and beverages	279.790	279.730	280.616	4.9	0.3	0.3
Food	280.333	280.332	281.114	5.1	0.3	0.3
Food at home	263.762	262.926	263.830	5.1	0.0	0.3
Cereals and bakery products	268.954	270.310	272.534	2.2	1.3	0.8
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	279.385	278.513	277.137	7.4	-0.8	-0.5
Dairy and related products	247.264	248.005	245.132	4.7	-0.9	-1.2
Fruits and vegetables	350.341	348.551	353.422	4.9	0.9	1.4
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	187.429	185.622	186.157	6.9	-0.7	0.3
Other food at home	221.197	220.032	221.543	4.1	0.2	0.7
Food away from home	301.748	302.893	303.505	5.1	0.6	0.2
Alcoholic beverages	269.351	268.566	270.735	3.1	0.5	0.8
Housing	308.782	308.769	308.892	2.2	0.0	0.0
Shelter	356.336	356.135	356.345	1.9	0.0	0.1
Rent of primary residence(1)	379.915	380.372	380.975	2.4	0.3	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)(2)	374.293	374.761	375.910	2.3	0.4	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	374.292	374.752	375.899	2.3	0.4	0.3
Fuels and utilities	318.565	318.589	321.045	3.4	0.8	0.8
Household energy	268.310	268.275	271.279	3.5	1.1	1.1
Energy services(1)	270.918	270.855	273.675	3.5	1.0	1.0
Electricity(1)	302.959	301.408	305.498	2.7	0.8	1.4
Utility (piped) gas service(1)	211.367	215.112	214.914	6.6	1.7	-0.1
Household furnishings and operations	138.799	139.340	138.343	4.1	-0.3	-0.7
Apparel	111.588	114.364	114.301	-4.1	2.4	-0.1
Transportation	210.669	210.598	211.599	-5.4	0.4	0.5
Private transportation	208.959	208.569	208.300	-5.0	-0.3	-0.1
New and used motor vehicles(3)	102.058	102.215	102.645	2.9	0.6	0.4
New vehicles	149.765	149.776	149.673	1.5	-0.1	-0.1
New cars and trucks(3)(4)	104.015	104.021	103.950	1.6	-0.1	-0.1
New cars(4)	148.458	148.391	147.834	1.4	-0.4	-0.4
Used cars and trucks	143.303	146.170	147.731	11.0	3.1	1.1
Motor fuel	229.485	230.476	226.601	-21.0	-1.3	-1.7
Gasoline (all types)	228.850	229.834	225.976	-21.0	-1.3	-1.7
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	225.212	226.172	222.260	-21.5	-1.3	-1.7
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	222.275	222.975	220.112	-19.2	-1.0	-1.3
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	229.037	230.049	226.711	-18.9	-1.0	-1.5
Motor vehicle insurance(6)	813.922	778.628	783.498	-7.0	-3.7	0.6
Medical Care	544.247	543.151	540.015	3.6	-0.8	-0.6
Medical care commodities	428.583	426.720	424.610	3.2	-0.9	-0.5
Medical care services	579.956	579.105	575.649	3.6	-0.7	-0.6
Professional services	366.673	366.869	365.995	1.8	-0.2	-0.2
Recreation(3)	115.718	115.061	116.023	0.3	0.3	0.8
Education and communication(3)	140.519	140.343	140.777	2.1	0.2	0.3
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(6)	1,510.816	1,511.401	1,512.115	1.2	0.1	0.0
Other goods and services	458.151	457.191	458.694	1.6	0.1	0.3
Commodity and Service Group
All Items	276.443	276.422	276.876	1.2	0.2	0.2
Commodities	190.608	191.281	191.257	0.7	0.3	0.0
Commodities less food & beverages	147.562	148.480	148.113	-2.2	0.4	-0.2
Nondurables less food & beverages	188.437	189.214	188.327	-7.2	-0.1	-0.5
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	242.467	241.891	240.436	-8.1	-0.8	-0.6
Durables	109.011	109.930	109.913	3.9	0.8	0.0
Services	356.307	355.533	356.485	1.5	0.0	0.3
Rent of shelter(2)	379.536	379.313	379.501	1.9	0.0	0.0
Transportation services	300.958	296.416	302.720	-5.9	0.6	2.1
Other services	366.382	365.053	367.046	1.9	0.2	0.5
Special aggregate indexes:
All items less medical care	264.274	264.298	264.901	1.0	0.2	0.2
All items less food	275.950	275.926	276.327	0.6	0.1	0.1
All items less shelter	245.099	245.148	245.697	0.9	0.2	0.2
Commodities less food	152.004	152.881	152.582	-2.0	0.4	-0.2
Nondurables	234.043	234.416	234.389	-0.5	0.1	0.0
Nondurables less food	194.407	195.084	194.395	-6.4	0.0	-0.4
Nondurables less food and apparel	244.984	244.386	243.316	-6.9	-0.7	-0.4
Services less rent of shelter(2)	366.653	365.092	367.120	1.1	0.1	0.6
Services less medical care services	340.737	339.969	341.212	1.3	0.1	0.4
Energy	249.846	250.416	249.409	-11.4	-0.2	-0.4
All items less energy	280.578	280.516	281.074	2.1	0.2	0.2
All items less food and energy	281.410	281.338	281.857	1.6	0.2	0.2
Commodities less food and energy commodities	143.128	143.988	144.027	2.1	0.6	0.0
Energy commodities	233.876	234.889	231.195	-20.7	-1.1	-1.6
Services less energy services	362.617	361.799	362.649	1.4	0.0	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.