Prices in the West Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), edged down 0.2 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The November decrease was influenced by lower prices for gasoline. (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 1.5 percent. (See chart 1.) This marks the 13^th consecutive month in which consumer prices rose by less than 2.0 percent on an annual basis in the West. Energy prices dropped 11.2 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.6 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices decreased 0.3 percent for the month of November. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home decreased 0.7 percent, but prices for food away from home edged up 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 1.7 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 3.1 percent, and prices for food at home rose 0.7 percent since a year ago.

Energy

The energy index decreased 4.4 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-4.4 percent). Prices for natural gas service declined 7.2 percent, and prices for electricity declined 3.8 percent for the same period.

Energy prices dropped 11.2 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-18.5 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service declined 5.9 percent, while prices for electricity edged up 0.2 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.1 percent in November. Higher prices for medical care (0.5 percent) and shelter (0.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-2.0 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.6 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (4.3 percent) and medical care (3.4 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in apparel (-1.4 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.5 percent).

Table A. West Region 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	0.3	1.9	0.5	1.4	0.4	2.6	0.3	1.7	0.3	1.7	-0.3	0.7
February	0.1	1.4	0.6	1.9	0.4	2.5	0.8	2.0	0.4	1.3	0.6	0.9
March	0.3	1.6	0.9	2.6	0.9	2.4	0.4	1.5	0.6	1.5	0.8	1.1
April	0.2	1.5	0.6	3.0	0.2	2.1	0.0	1.3	0.3	1.8	0.3	1.0
May	0.1	1.3	0.3	3.2	0.2	2.0	0.2	1.3	0.6	2.3	0.8	1.2
June	-0.1	0.6	-0.2	3.1	-0.2	2.0	0.1	1.5	0.1	2.3	0.0	1.1
July	0.1	0.8	-0.1	2.9	-0.3	1.8	0.0	1.9	0.1	2.3	0.3	1.3
August	0.1	0.7	0.2	3.0	0.5	2.1	0.1	1.5	-0.1	2.1	-0.1	1.3
September	-0.1	0.5	0.4	3.5	0.5	2.2	0.2	1.3	0.1	2.0	-0.2	1.0
October	0.1	0.6	0.0	3.4	0.4	2.5	-0.1	0.9	-0.1	2.0	0.0	1.1
November	0.0	0.9	-0.2	3.2	-0.7	1.9	-0.4	1.3	-0.6	1.7	-0.2	1.5
December	0.2	1.3	-0.3	2.7	-0.5	1.7	0.0	1.8	-0.5	1.3

The December 2015 Consumer Price Index for the West Region 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 West Region covered in this release is comprised of the following thirteen states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

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

West (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	244.257	244.341	243.749	1.5	-0.2	-0.2
All items (December 1977=100)	394.827	394.963	394.007
Food and beverages	251.284	252.442	251.757	1.6	0.2	-0.3
Food	251.679	252.711	251.951	1.7	0.1	-0.3
Food at home	250.337	251.638	249.920	0.7	-0.2	-0.7
Food away from home	252.334	252.981	253.577	3.1	0.5	0.2
Alcoholic beverages	242.815	245.569	245.827	0.8	1.2	0.1
Housing	256.858	257.502	257.121	3.4	0.1	-0.1
Shelter	290.375	291.392	292.216	4.3	0.6	0.3
Rent of primary residence (1)	304.138	305.692	307.166	4.5	1.0	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	304.697	305.840	306.998	4.3	0.8	0.4
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	304.680	305.821	306.978	4.3	0.8	0.4
Fuels and utilities	282.573	281.656	273.243	0.7	-3.3	-3.0
Household energy	246.425	245.478	234.637	-1.4	-4.8	-4.4
Energy services (1)	249.137	247.731	236.244	-1.3	-5.2	-4.6
Electricity (1)	273.994	272.223	261.784	0.2	-4.5	-3.8
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	205.615	204.989	190.266	-5.9	-7.5	-7.2
Household furnishings and operations	129.091	129.160	128.345	-0.5	-0.6	-0.6
Apparel	120.484	121.277	118.848	-1.4	-1.4	-2.0
Transportation	202.729	198.551	197.083	-4.3	-2.8	-0.7
Private transportation	197.316	192.229	190.213	-4.5	-3.6	-1.0
New and used motor vehicles (3)	101.089	100.417	100.159	0.4	-0.9	-0.3
New vehicles	145.397	145.919	146.557	1.0	0.8	0.4
New cars and trucks (3) (4)	101.011	101.336	101.779	1.0	0.8	0.4
New cars (4)	144.298	145.050	145.296	-0.1	0.7	0.2
Used cars and trucks	143.520	140.675	138.050	-1.4	-3.8	-1.9
Motor fuel	234.267	214.565	205.325	-18.7	-12.4	-4.3
Gasoline (all types)	233.713	213.808	204.427	-18.5	-12.5	-4.4
Gasoline, unleaded regular (4)	231.321	211.165	201.794	-19.0	-12.8	-4.4
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (4) (5)	223.986	205.851	197.104	-17.1	-12.0	-4.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium (4)	228.034	210.479	201.449	-16.3	-11.7	-4.3
Medical Care	451.886	456.524	458.708	3.4	1.5	0.5
Medical care commodities	345.296	343.522	346.064	3.3	0.2	0.7
Medical care services	485.524	492.647	494.643	3.4	1.9	0.4
Professional services	338.484	338.351	341.335	2.4	0.8	0.9
Recreation (3)	110.837	111.405	111.266	1.6	0.4	-0.1
Education and communication (3)	138.557	138.708	138.879	0.4	0.2	0.1
Other goods and services	403.489	405.842	405.941	1.7	0.6	0.0
Commodity and Service Group
All Items	244.257	244.341	243.749	1.5	-0.2	-0.2
Commodities	180.903	179.745	178.287	-1.6	-1.4	-0.8
Commodities less food & beverages	145.620	143.546	141.820	-3.8	-2.6	-1.2
Nondurables less food & beverages	184.817	180.618	177.597	-6.0	-3.9	-1.7
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	230.238	222.666	219.207	-7.5	-4.8	-1.6
Durables	109.394	109.252	108.704	-0.4	-0.6	-0.5
Services	302.596	303.877	304.128	3.3	0.5	0.1
Rent of shelter (2)	308.923	310.015	310.884	4.3	0.6	0.3
Transportation services	281.341	283.241	286.091	2.0	1.7	1.0
Other services	337.624	338.900	339.305	1.8	0.5	0.1
Special aggregate indexes:
All items less medical care	234.717	234.618	233.918	1.3	-0.3	-0.3
All items less food	243.279	243.213	242.648	1.4	-0.3	-0.2
All items less shelter	226.802	226.489	225.289	0.0	-0.7	-0.5
Commodities less food	149.348	147.405	145.727	-3.6	-2.4	-1.1
Nondurables	218.196	216.464	214.504	-2.0	-1.7	-0.9
Nondurables less food	189.237	185.433	182.593	-5.5	-3.5	-1.5
Nondurables less food and apparel	231.093	224.525	221.429	-6.7	-4.2	-1.4
Services less rent of shelter (2)	328.787	330.462	329.931	2.1	0.3	-0.2
Services less medical care services	289.806	290.741	290.890	3.3	0.4	0.1
Energy	242.168	230.777	220.716	-11.2	-8.9	-4.4
All items less energy	246.393	247.346	247.467	2.5	0.4	0.0
All items less food and energy	246.242	247.185	247.460	2.6	0.5	0.1
Commodities less food and energy commodities	140.306	140.428	139.613	-0.3	-0.5	-0.6
Energy commodities	237.970	218.688	209.693	-18.4	-11.9	-4.1
Services less energy services	306.763	308.219	309.218	3.5	0.8	0.3
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) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
Regions defined as the four Census regions. West includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.