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News Release Information

15-514-ATL
Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (404) 893-4220

Consumer Price Index, Atlanta – February 2015

Area prices unchanged over the two months; down 0.3 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Atlanta was unchanged over the two months, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that energy prices decreased 7.0 percent over the two-month pricing period. The all items less food and energy group increased 0.6 percent and the food index rose 1.4 percent over the January-February pricing period. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U declined 0.3 percent, as price decreases for motor fuel, apparel, and household furnishings and operations were largely offset by an increase in prices for shelter and medical care. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.8 percent over the year. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

 Chart 1. 12-month percent change in CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), Atlanta, February 2012–February 2015
Food

Food prices increased 1.4 percent during the January-February pricing period. Prices rose 3.5 percent for food away from home and inched up 0.1 percent for food at home during the two month pricing period.

Over the year, the food index rose 3.6 percent, reflecting price increases for both food away from home (6.3 percent) and food at home (2.0 percent).

Energy

The energy index fell 7.0 percent over the two-month pricing period, led by a 13.5-percent drop in motor fuel prices. Also contributing to the decrease was a 6.3-percent decline in prices for utility (piped) gas service. Prices for electricity rose 2.1 percent over the two months.

Over the year, the energy index decreased 19.9 percent, primarily due to a 32.7-percent drop in motor fuel prices. Prices for utility (piped) gas service decreased 15.2 percent since February 2014, while electricity prices rose 1.9 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.6 percent during the January-February pricing period, reflecting higher prices for shelter (0.7 percent), a seasonal increase in apparel prices (5.0 percent), and higher medical care prices (1.6 percent). The education and communication index decreased 0.9 percent during the two-month pricing period.

From February 2014 to February 2015, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.8 percent. Price increases were noted for several indexes including shelter (3.7 percent), medical care (6.2 percent) and other goods and services (1.3 percent). The apparel index declined 7.6 percent during the pricing period.

Table A. Atlanta metropolitan area CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted
Month

 
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
2-month 12-month 2-month 12-month 2-month 12-month 2-month 12-month 2-month 12-month 2-month 12-month

February

1.1 1.7 1.6 1.5 1.0 2.4 1.9 2.1 1.3 1.8 0.0 -0.3

April

0.7 2.4 1.7 2.5 1.1 1.8 0.1 1.1 0.8 2.5 - -

June

0.3 0.6 0.9 3.1 0.6 1.5 1.0 1.4 1.5 3.0 - -

August

-0.1 0.6 0.6 3.8 0.6 1.5 0.7 1.5 -0.1 2.2 - -

October

-0.8 0.9 -1.5 3.1 -1.2 1.8 -1.0 1.6 -1.1 2.2 - -

December

-0.2 1.0 -0.3 3.0 -0.9 1.2 -0.2 2.4 -1.5 0.9 - -

The Consumer Price Index for March 2015 is scheduled to be released on Friday, April 17, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).


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 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 28 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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/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 Atlanta, Ga. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Rockdale, Spalding, and Walton Counties in Georgia.

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
Atlanta, GA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

 
Indexes
 
Percent change from-
Dec.
2014
Jan.
2015
Feb.
2015
Feb.
2014
Dec.
2014
Jan.
2015

Expenditure category

 
 

All Items

218.058   218.123 -0.3 0.0  

All items (1967=100)

657.597   657.793      

Food and beverages

247.678   250.989 3.4 1.3  

Food

258.636   262.161 3.6 1.4  

Food at home

253.109 251.961 253.277 2.0 0.1 0.5

Food away from home

267.895   277.176 6.3 3.5  

Alcoholic beverages

149.876   151.287 0.8 0.9  

Housing

211.579   212.524 2.4 0.4  

Shelter

226.473 227.952 227.984 3.7 0.7 0.0

Rent of primary residence (1)

227.608 229.535 230.417 4.9 1.2 0.4

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

222.879 223.777 224.152 3.6 0.6 0.2

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

222.879 223.777 224.152 3.6 0.6 0.2

Fuels and utilities

276.935   276.109 -1.5 -0.3  

Household energy

235.994 235.917 235.053 -3.8 -0.4 -0.4

Energy Services (1)

234.610 234.678 233.742 -3.5 -0.4 -0.4

Electricity (1)

202.910 207.168 207.168 1.9 2.1 0.0

Utility (piped) gas service (1)

271.842 258.449 254.771 -15.2 -6.3 -1.4

Household furnishings and operations

126.382   126.062 -2.6 -0.3  

Apparel

129.478   135.990 -7.6 5.0  

Transportation

192.809   185.844 -11.4 -3.6  

Private transportation

192.316   184.638 -11.7 -4.0  

Motor fuel

223.895 186.586 193.764 -32.7 -13.5 3.8

Gasoline (all types)

222.064 184.972 192.224 -32.7 -13.4 3.9

Unleaded regular (3)

218.664 181.874 188.931 -33.1 -13.6 3.9

Unleaded midgrade (3) (4)

273.177 226.724 238.236 -31.0 -12.8 5.1

Unleaded premium (3)

230.340 194.607 202.286 -29.7 -12.2 3.9

Medical Care

402.706   409.031 6.2 1.6  

Recreation (5)

84.864   85.259 -0.1 0.5  

Education and communication (5)

133.507   132.311 -0.5 -0.9  

Other goods and services

343.856   343.388 1.3 -0.1  
 

Commodity and service group

 
 

All Items

218.058   218.123 -0.3 0.0  

Commodities

176.914   175.525 -5.1 -0.8  

Commodities less food & beverages

144.547   141.571 -9.8 -2.1  

Nondurables less food & beverages

176.800   170.333 -14.6 -3.7  

Durables

111.466   111.684 -2.3 0.2  

Services

258.059   259.276 2.4 0.5  
 

Special aggregate indexes

 
 

All items less medical care

208.095   207.903 -0.8 -0.1  

All items less shelter

219.317   218.654 -2.4 -0.3  

Commodities less food

144.408   141.590 -9.4 -2.0  

Nondurables

208.024   205.676 -6.1 -1.1  

Nondurables less food

173.643   167.769 -13.8 -3.4  

Services less rent of shelter (2)

310.002   310.906 1.0 0.3  

Services less medical care services

242.232   243.152 2.2 0.4  

Energy

209.037 191.511 194.495 -19.9 -7.0 1.6

All items less energy

218.767   220.396 2.0 0.7  

All items less food and energy

212.996   214.374 1.8 0.6  

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) Index is on a December 1982=100 base.
(3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.
(4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
(5) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
 

Blank: Data not available.
NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.
 

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2015