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News Release Information

19-263-SAN
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (415) 625-2270

Consumer Price Index, Riverside Area – January 2019

Area prices were up 0.4 percent over the past two months, up 3.0 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Riverside Area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.4 percent for the two months ending in January 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the January increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and food. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, six-month-to-six-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 3.0 percent.  (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices advanced 2.7 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of natural gas service. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.2 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 1.3 percent for the two months ending in January. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home rose 1.7 percent, and prices for food away from home rose 0.9 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 2.3 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 3.7 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home rose 0.9 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 6.3 percent for the two months ending in January. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-11.5 percent). Prices for natural gas service jumped 12.6 percent, and prices for electricity increased 1.8 percent for the same period.

Energy prices advanced 2.7 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for natural gas service (19.9 percent). Prices paid for gasoline advanced 1.6 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 0.9 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.0 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for apparel (4.5 percent), household furnishings and operations (3.4 percent), and shelter (1.0 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for new and used motor vehicles (-0.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (4.6 percent) and apparel (4.6 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price declines in other goods and services (-1.0 percent) and medical care (-0.1 percent).

The March 2019 Consumer Price Index for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area is scheduled to be released on April 10, 2019.


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 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area covered in this release consists of Riverside and San Bernardino 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

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario (December 2017=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group

IndexesPercent change from-
Nov.
2018
Dec.
2018
Jan.
2019
Jan.
2018
Nov.
2018
Dec.
2018

Expenditure category

All items

103.616-103.9913.00.4-

Food and beverages

101.623-102.9012.11.3-

Food

101.699-103.0252.31.3-

Food at home

100.026100.863101.7730.91.70.9

Cereals and bakery products

105.129-105.0230.5-0.1-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

96.733-102.9603.46.4-

Dairy and related products

99.427-101.7425.62.3-

Fruits and vegetables

100.062-103.1400.83.1-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials

101.910-102.761-1.30.8-

Other food at home

100.003-97.743-2.1-2.3-

Food away from home

103.394-104.2923.70.9-

Food away from home

103.394-104.2923.70.9-

Alcoholic beverages

100.335-100.811-0.50.5-

Housing

103.133-104.6904.61.5-

Shelter

103.501103.842104.5014.61.00.6

Rent of primary residence

103.757104.243104.6384.90.80.4

Owners' equiv. rent of residences

103.308103.634104.1054.40.80.5

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence

103.308103.634104.1054.40.80.5

Fuels and utilities

104.690-109.1117.24.2-

Household energy

103.343106.079107.6054.74.11.4

Energy services

103.596106.362107.9385.04.21.5

Electricity

103.615103.589105.4350.91.81.8

Utility (piped) gas service

103.530115.955116.60019.912.60.6

Household furnishings and operations

97.584-100.8950.93.4-

Apparel

102.980-107.6144.64.5-

Transportation

109.054-104.6222.5-4.1-

Private transportation

109.108-104.7092.8-4.0-

New and used motor vehicles

102.889-102.3891.4-0.5-

New vehicles

102.245-102.4781.80.2-

Used cars and trucks

101.264-101.7061.20.4-

Motor fuel

120.110111.159106.3721.6-11.4-4.3

Gasoline (all types)

120.167111.176106.3841.6-11.5-4.3

Gasoline, unleaded regular(1)

120.393111.255106.5941.7-11.5-4.2

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(1)

121.099112.541106.3001.7-12.2-5.5

Gasoline, unleaded premium(1)

118.752110.451105.2320.9-11.4-4.7

Motor vehicle insurance

110.537-110.12110.3-0.4-

Medical care

100.789-100.838-0.10.0-

Recreation

101.553-102.6181.41.0-

Education and communication

101.501-102.6021.41.1-

Tuition, other school fees, and child care

108.816-111.97410.12.9-

Other goods and services

102.329-103.108-1.00.8-

Commodity and service group

All items

103.616-103.9913.00.4-

Commodities

103.882-103.1131.5-0.7-

Commodities less food & beverages

105.394-103.2541.0-2.0-

Nondurables less food & beverages

108.366-103.8101.0-4.2-

Durables

101.115-102.4541.11.3-

Services

103.452-104.5324.01.0-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care

103.813-104.2113.30.4-

All items less shelter

103.680-103.7062.20.0-

Commodities less food

105.212-103.1661.0-1.9-

Nondurables

104.783-103.3271.6-1.4-

Nondurables less food

107.888-103.6310.9-3.9-

Services less rent of shelter

103.400-104.5773.31.1-

Services less medical care services

103.628-104.7584.31.1-

Energy

113.991109.305106.8222.7-6.3-2.3

All items less energy

102.684-103.7373.11.0-

All items less food and energy

102.868-103.8703.21.0-

Footnotes
(1) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.

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

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2019