Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), were unchanged in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden noted that in November higher prices for medical care and shelter were offset by lower prices for gasoline and apparel. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 1.6 percent.  (See chart 1.) Energy prices declined 8.6 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 2.6 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices inched up 0.1 percent for the month of November. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home moved up 0.7 percent, but prices for food at home moved down 0.3 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 1.5 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 2.7 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home rose 0.7 percent.

Energy

The energy index declined 3.7 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-3.9 percent). Prices for natural gas service dropped 11.9 percent, while prices for electricity were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices declined 8.6 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-11.1 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service decreased 5.8 percent, and prices for electricity declined 4.4 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased  0.2 percent in November. Higher prices for medical care (2.3 percent) and shelter (0.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-2.4 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 2.6 percent. Components contributing to the increase included medical care (5.2 percent) and shelter (3.6 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in household furnishings and operations (-1.9 percent).

Table A. Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County CPI-U monthly and annual percent changes (not seasonally adjusted)

Month	2010		2011		2012		2013		2014		2015
	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual	Monthly	Annual
January	0.4	1.8	0.9	1.8	0.8	2.1	0.8	2.0	0.5	0.8	-0.3	-0.1
February	0.0	1.4	0.5	2.3	0.5	2.1	0.7	2.2	0.5	0.5	0.7	0.1
March	0.4	1.9	1.1	3.0	1.0	2.0	0.1	1.3	0.6	1.0	1.0	0.5
April	0.2	1.9	0.5	3.3	0.0	1.5	-0.4	0.9	0.0	1.4	-0.1	0.5
May	0.2	1.8	0.0	3.1	0.1	1.6	0.1	1.0	0.4	1.7	1.0	1.1
June	-0.2	0.9	-0.4	2.9	-0.4	1.6	-0.1	1.4	0.1	1.8	-0.3	0.8
July	0.1	0.9	-0.4	2.4	-0.1	1.9	-0.1	1.3	0.1	2.0	0.7	1.4
August	0.2	0.8	0.2	2.4	0.6	2.3	0.1	0.8	-0.1	1.8	-0.3	1.1
September	-0.1	0.4	0.5	3.1	0.4	2.2	0.2	0.6	0.0	1.7	-0.4	0.7
October	0.3	0.7	0.0	2.8	0.8	3.0	0.1	-0.1	-0.1	1.4	0.2	1.0
November	-0.4	0.7	-0.1	3.0	-1.0	2.1	-0.5	0.4	-0.7	1.3	0.0	1.6
December	0.3	1.3	-0.5	2.2	-0.7	1.9	0.0	1.1	-0.5	0.7

The December 2015 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County is scheduled to be released on January 20, 2016.

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 6,000 housing units and approximately 24,000 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 Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura Counties in the State of California.

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

Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Sep. 2015	Oct. 2015	Nov. 2015	Nov. 2014	Sep. 2015	Oct. 2015
Expenditure category
All items	245.431	245.812	245.711	1.6	0.1	0.0
All items (1967=100)	725.112	726.237	725.941	-	-	-
Food and beverages	249.965	251.272	251.700	1.5	0.7	0.2
Food	250.499	251.648	251.968	1.5	0.6	0.1
Food at home	259.351	260.999	260.238	0.7	0.3	-0.3
Food away from home	235.732	236.232	237.921	2.7	0.9	0.7
Alcoholic beverages	228.488	231.621	233.316	1.3	2.1	0.7
Housing	268.534	269.317	269.198	2.5	0.2	0.0
Shelter	304.641	305.625	306.503	3.6	0.6	0.3
Rent of primary residence (1)	318.925	320.343	321.865	4.0	0.9	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	316.537	317.784	318.506	3.3	0.6	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	316.513	317.756	318.482	3.3	0.6	0.2
Fuels and utilities	295.078	297.508	291.090	-3.0	-1.4	-2.2
Household energy	259.239	265.167	256.173	-4.9	-1.2	-3.4
Energy services (1)	258.159	264.044	254.962	-4.8	-1.2	-3.4
Electricity (1)	290.671	300.925	300.925	-4.4	3.5	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	224.068	222.585	196.124	-5.8	-12.5	-11.9
Household furnishings and operations	115.943	115.363	114.359	-1.9	-1.4	-0.9
Apparel	114.341	113.500	110.747	0.4	-3.1	-2.4
Transportation	198.005	194.011	192.619	-2.4	-2.7	-0.7
Private transportation	193.629	188.820	186.873	-2.4	-3.5	-1.0
Motor fuel	246.755	228.651	219.830	-11.2	-10.9	-3.9
Gasoline (all types)	241.579	223.802	215.129	-11.1	-10.9	-3.9
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)	242.193	224.227	215.431	-11.3	-11.0	-3.9
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)	233.497	214.672	206.756	-10.5	-11.5	-3.7
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)	229.035	213.374	205.609	-10.3	-10.2	-3.6
Medical care	426.277	433.038	443.047	5.2	3.9	2.3
Recreation (5)	103.544	106.169	106.536	3.4	2.9	0.3
Education and communication (5)	147.006	147.283	147.079	0.7	0.0	-0.1
Other goods and services	388.613	391.837	391.758	2.7	0.8	0.0
Commodity and service group
All items	245.431	245.812	245.711	1.6	0.1	0.0
Commodities	177.301	175.708	174.412	-0.9	-1.6	-0.7
Commodities less food & beverages	138.788	136.021	134.043	-2.8	-3.4	-1.5
Nondurables less food & beverages	181.951	176.352	173.450	-3.8	-4.7	-1.6
Durables	96.637	96.558	95.469	-1.0	-1.2	-1.1
Services	305.665	307.972	309.048	3.1	1.1	0.3
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	237.382	237.547	237.112	1.4	-0.1	-0.2
All items less shelter	219.652	219.771	219.247	0.5	-0.2	-0.2
Commodities less food	142.790	140.190	138.314	-2.6	-3.1	-1.3
Nondurables	217.102	214.695	213.329	-0.9	-1.7	-0.6
Nondurables less food	186.764	181.667	179.029	-3.4	-4.1	-1.5
Services less rent of shelter (2)	315.800	320.088	321.475	2.4	1.8	0.4
Services less medical care services	295.050	296.875	297.471	2.9	0.8	0.2
Energy	252.521	243.522	234.598	-8.6	-7.1	-3.7
All items less energy	246.813	247.878	248.417	2.4	0.6	0.2
All items less food and energy	246.488	247.539	248.120	2.6	0.7	0.2
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.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.