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News Release Information

19-629-SAN
Wednesday, April 10, 2019

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

Consumer Price Index, Riverside Area – March 2019

Area prices were up 0.7 percent over the past two months, up 2.8 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Riverside Area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.7 percent for the two months ending in March 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the March increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and gasoline. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 2.8 percent.  (See chart 1 and table A.) Energy prices advanced 1.2 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of natural gas service. The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.1 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.3 percent for the two months ending in March. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home advanced 1.0 percent, but prices for food at home decreased 0.4 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 2.2 percent. Prices for food away from home increased 3.9 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home increased 0.6 percent.

Energy

The energy index increased 2.6 percent for the two months ending in March. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (4.4 percent). Prices for electricity declined 1.0 percent, and prices for natural gas service decreased 0.3 percent for the same period.

Energy prices advanced 1.2 percent over the year, largely due to a price jump in natural gas service (20.4 percent). Prices paid for electricity were unchanged, while prices for gasoline declined 0.6 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for other goods and services (3.9 percent), education and communication (1.3 percent), and shelter (0.9 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-2.7 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 3.1 percent. Components contributing to the increase included other goods and services (5.2 percent), education and communication (4.5 percent), and shelter (3.9 percent).

The May 2019 Consumer Price Index for the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area is scheduled to be released on June 12, 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-
Jan.
2019
Feb.
2019
Mar.
2019
Mar.
2018
Jan.
2019
Feb.
2019

Expenditure category

All items

103.991-104.7492.80.7-

Food and beverages

102.901-103.0912.00.2-

Food

103.025-103.3102.20.3-

Food at home

101.773100.880101.3470.6-0.40.5

Cereals and bakery products

105.023-104.1603.5-0.8-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

102.960-101.305-0.3-1.6-

Dairy and related products

101.742-104.0093.82.2-

Fruits and vegetables

103.140-100.9280.9-2.1-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials

102.761-104.0652.11.3-

Other food at home

97.743-98.006-2.30.3-

Food away from home

104.292-105.2993.91.0-

Food away from home

104.292-105.2993.91.0-

Alcoholic beverages

100.811-99.389-2.2-1.4-

Housing

104.690-105.3213.90.6-

Shelter

104.501105.083105.4143.90.90.3

Rent of primary residence

104.638104.761105.0104.20.40.2

Owners' equiv. rent of residences

104.105104.560105.1434.31.00.6

Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence

104.105104.560105.1434.31.00.6

Fuels and utilities

109.111-108.7806.0-0.3-

Household energy

107.605106.626107.0864.3-0.50.4

Energy services

107.938106.605107.0714.3-0.80.4

Electricity

105.435105.406104.4090.0-1.0-0.9

Utility (piped) gas service

116.600110.753116.28520.4-0.35.0

Household furnishings and operations

100.895-100.0031.1-0.9-

Apparel

107.614-104.7300.7-2.7-

Transportation

104.622-106.4591.11.8-

Private transportation

104.709-106.4741.41.7-

New and used motor vehicles

102.389-102.7210.90.3-

New vehicles

102.478-102.6201.30.1-

Used cars and trucks

101.706-102.6750.01.0-

Motor fuel

106.372106.405111.006-0.54.44.3

Gasoline (all types)

106.384106.406111.025-0.64.44.3

Gasoline, unleaded regular(1)

106.594106.505111.150-0.64.34.4

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(1)

106.300106.173111.1560.34.64.7

Gasoline, unleaded premium(1)

105.232105.850110.268-0.44.84.2

Motor vehicle insurance

110.121-110.1215.40.0-

Medical care

100.838-101.6652.40.8-

Recreation

102.618-102.1470.5-0.5-

Education and communication

102.602-103.9174.51.3-

Tuition, other school fees, and child care

111.974-111.97412.10.0-

Other goods and services

103.108-107.0975.23.9-

Commodity and service group

All items

103.991-104.7492.80.7-

Commodities

103.113-103.7591.00.6-

Commodities less food & beverages

103.254-104.2050.40.9-

Nondurables less food & beverages

103.810-104.962-0.21.1-

Durables

102.454-103.1161.30.6-

Services

104.532-105.3583.90.8-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less medical care

104.211-104.9642.80.7-

All items less shelter

103.706-104.3772.20.6-

Commodities less food

103.166-104.0320.30.8-

Nondurables

103.327-103.9681.00.6-

Nondurables less food

103.631-104.630-0.31.0-

Services less rent of shelter

104.577-105.2773.90.7-

Services less medical care services

104.758-105.5664.00.8-

Energy

106.822106.485109.5751.22.62.9

All items less energy

103.737-104.3163.00.6-

All items less food and energy

103.870-104.5033.10.6-

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, April 10, 2019