Philadelphia Area Consumer Price Index:  January 2010 (PDF)

Prices for food at home, shelter, and energy all rose in the Philadelphia area in January as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that despite the one-month increases in all three indexes, food at home prices were 0.6 percent lower over the year. Since January 2009, prices for shelter and energy were 2.7 and 17.7 percent higher, respectively. (See table 1.)

The food at home index advanced 0.6 percent in January, led by higher prices for a number of items including frozen fruits and vegetables and milk.

The Philadelphia area food at home index stood at 217.947 on the 1982-84 reference base, which means that grocery shoppers in the Philadelphia area would have had to spend $21.79 last month for a market basket of food items that cost $10.00 in 1982-84.

Shelter prices were 0.2 percent higher in January due in part to higher prices for other lodging away from home, including hotels and motels. Also contributing to the overall increase in the shelter index were higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (0.1 percent) and rent of primary residence (0.2 percent). These two published components had over-the-year increases of 3.5 and 1.0 percent, respectively.

The Philadelphia area shelter index stood at 279.888 on the 1982-84 reference base, which means that local residents would have had to spend $27.99 last month for various types of shelter that cost $10.00 in 1982-84.

Following no change in December, energy prices rose 3.2 percent in January. The recent advance was due largely to higher gasoline prices, up 4.2 percent over the month and 55.7 percent over the year—the largest 12-month increase since September 2005. Higher prices for electricity, fuel oil, and utility (piped) gas service also contributed to the recent one-month rise in the overall energy index. Electricity prices increased 2.1 percent in January and 3.2 percent over the last 12 months. Utility (piped) gas service prices rose 0.3 percent over the month but dropped 15.8 percent since January 2009.

The Philadelphia area energy index stood at 206.866 on the 1982-84 reference base, which means that energy users in the Philadelphia area would have had to spend $20.69 last month for a group of energy items that cost $10.00 in 1982-84.

The Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, Pa.-N.J.-Del.-Md., Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) includes Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania; Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem Counties in New Jersey; New Castle County in Delaware; and Cecil County in Maryland.