Consumer prices increase 3.2 percent in 12 months

From April 2010 to April 2011, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) rose 3.2 percent, the largest increase since October 2008.

[Chart data]

For the 12 months ending April 2011, the food index has risen 3.2 percent while the index for all items less food and energy has increased 1.3 percent. The food at home index has risen 3.9 percent over the last 12 months, with all major grocery store food groups increasing over the period.

The energy index has now risen 19.0 percent over the last 12 months, with the gasoline index up 33.1 percent. The household energy index has risen 1.9 percent over the last 12 months, with the fuel oil index up 35.1 percent and the electricity index up 0.6 percent. The index for natural gas was down 1.5 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.3 percent over the last 12 months. Indexes that have increased over that time include airline fares (up 12.1 percent), medical care (up 2.9 percent), new vehicles (up 2.4 percent), and shelter (up 1.0 percent). Indexes that have declined included household furnishings and operations (down 0.9 percent) and recreation (down 0.4 percent).

These data are from the BLS Consumer Price Index program. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index – April 2010" (HTML) (PDF), news release USDL-11-0681.