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Consumer prices up 2.5 percent over year ended April 2018

May 18, 2018

Over the 12 months from April 2017 to April 2018, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 2.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted.

Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, 12-month percent change, by expenditure category, April 2018, not seasonally adjusted
Expenditure category 12-month percent change, April 2017–April 2018 Relative importance, March 2018

All items

2.5% 100.000%

Food

1.4 13.281

Food at home

0.5 7.310

Cereals and bakery products

0.0 0.961

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

3.5 1.622

Dairy and related products

-0.4 0.733

Fruits and vegetables

-0.4 1.275

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials

-0.8 0.871

Other food at home

0.0 1.847

Food away from home

2.5 5.971

Energy

7.9 7.635

Energy commodities

13.7 4.232

Fuel oil

22.6 0.115

Motor fuel

13.5 4.039

Energy services

1.2 3.404

Electricity

1.2 2.620

Utility (piped) gas service

1.0 0.784

All items less food and energy

2.1 79.083

Commodities less food and energy commodities

-0.4 19.938

Apparel

0.8 3.178

New vehicles

-1.6 3.764

Used cars and trucks

-0.9 2.439

Medical care commodities

1.9 1.735

Alcoholic beverages

1.4 0.968

Tobacco and smoking products

3.0 0.643

Services less energy services

2.9 59.145

Shelter

3.4 32.752

Medical care services

2.2 6.943

Transportation services

4.1 5.987

Prices for food, which had a relative importance weight of 13.3 percent, increased 1.4 percent over the 12 months ended April 2018. Prices for food at home rose 0.5 percent. Prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 3.5 percent over the last year, the only one of the six major grocery store food groups to increase. Prices for cereals and bakery products and for other food at home were unchanged, and the remaining food groups declined modestly over the last 12 months. Prices for food away from home increased 2.5 percent.

Prices for energy, which had a relative importance weight of 7.6 percent, increased 7.9 percent over the past year. Motor fuel prices (which include gasoline) increased 13.4 percent and fuel oil prices rose 22.6 percent. Electricity prices increased 1.2 percent, and natural gas prices advanced 1.0 percent.

Prices for all items less food and energy, which accounted for 79.1 percent of consumer spending, rose 2.1 percent over the past 12 months. Shelter prices rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, and medical care prices rose 2.2 percent.

These data are from the Consumer Price Index program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Consumer Price Index — April 2018" (HTML) (PDF). Also see more charts related to the latest Consumer Price Index news release.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Consumer prices up 2.5 percent over year ended April 2018 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2018/consumer-prices-up-2-point-5-percent-over-year-ended-april-2018.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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