The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell increased 0.5 percent from February to April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Victoria G. Lee noted that the index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent over the bi-monthly period. The food index increased 1.5 percent from February to April, while the energy index declined 0.8 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U advanced 5.8 percent for the 12 months ending in April. The index for all items less food and energy rose 6.6 percent over the past year. The food index continued to increase, up 8.6 percent over the last 12 months. In contrast, the energy index declined 7.5 percent over the past year. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, April 2020–April 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Apr 2020	-0.3	1.1
Jun 2020	0.9	2.0
Aug 2020	0.7	2.1
Oct 2020	1.2	1.7
Dec 2020	1.6	2.0
Feb 2021	2.4	2.3
Apr 2021	6.0	5.0
Jun 2021	6.7	5.8
Aug 2021	6.6	5.8
Oct 2021	7.9	7.0
Dec 2021	9.8	9.3
Feb 2022	10.6	10.1
Apr 2022	10.8	9.8
Jun 2022	11.5	9.7
Aug 2022	11.7	11.0
Oct 2022	10.7	10.4
Dec 2022	8.1	8.2
Feb 2023	7.2	7.5
Apr 2023	5.8	6.6

The food index increased 1.5 percent from February to April, reflecting increases in the food away from home (+2.0 percent) and food at home (+1.2 percent) indexes. Within the food at home index, increases were noted for other food at home; meats, poultry, fish, and eggs; and nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials.  

The food index advanced 8.6 percent for the 12 months ending in April, led by a 12.4-percent increase in the food away from home index. The food at home index rose 6.5 percent over the past year as five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased.

The energy index declined 0.8 percent from February to April. The electricity index also declined 0.8 percent over the bi-monthly period, while the gasoline index rose 2.3 percent.

The energy index fell 7.5 percent for the 12 months ending in April, largely contributed to a 12.5-percent decrease in the gasoline index.  

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent from February to April as shelter (+1.4 percent) continued to increase. Within the shelter index, owners’ equivalent rent rose 1.1 percent over the bi-monthly period, and rent of primary residence rose 2.3 percent. The index for used cars and trucks (+5.9 percent) also contributed to the increase from February to April. In contrast, recreation (-1.5 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-1.6 percent) were among the components to decline over the bi-monthly period.   

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.6 percent for the 12 months ending in April. The shelter index rose 11.4 percent over the past year, reflecting increases in owners’ equivalent rent (+11.4 percent) and rent of primary residence (+14.2 percent).

The Consumer Price Index for May 2023 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 6,000 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; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000.  Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods 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-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Barrow, Bartow, Butts, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Haralson, Heard, Henry, Jasper, Lamar, Meriwether, Morgan, Newton, Paulding, Pickens, Pike, 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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.