Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.6 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the July increase was influenced by higher prices for shelter and 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 increased 1.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.3 percent over the year. Food prices rose 4.6 percent. Energy prices decreased 8.4 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.4 percent for the month of July. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home increased 0.9 percent, but prices for food at home edged down 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 4.6 percent. Prices for food away from home moved up 5.7 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home rose 3.5 percent.

Energy

The energy index advanced 2.6 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (4.2 percent). Prices for electricity rose 0.9 percent, but prices for natural gas service decreased 0.5 percent for the same period.

Energy prices decreased 8.4 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-16.6 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service jumped 12.4 percent, and prices for electricity increased 4.3 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.5 percent in July. Higher prices for education and communication (1.8 percent), medical care (0.9 percent), and shelter (0.5 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for alcoholic beverages (-7.2 percent), recreation (-0.8 percent), and new vehicles (-0.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.3 percent. Components contributing to the increase included medical care (5.1 percent) and shelter (3.3 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in new and used motor vehicles (-2.5 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.7 percent).

Table A. Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA, CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.7	3.1	0.9	2.1	0.8	3.5	0.7	3.2	0.8	3.1
February	0.0	2.4	0.6	2.7	0.7	3.6	0.1	2.5	0.3	3.4
March	0.3	1.7	0.3	2.7	0.4	3.8	0.6	2.7	-0.7	1.9
April	0.2	2.0	0.2	2.7	0.4	4.0	1.0	3.3	-0.3	0.7
May	0.5	1.4	0.3	2.5	0.4	4.1	0.2	3.1	0.4	0.9
June	0.1	1.8	-0.2	2.2	-0.2	4.0	0.0	3.3	0.5	1.4
July	0.0	1.1	0.3	2.5	0.2	3.9	0.1	3.3	0.6	1.9
August	0.0	1.4	0.3	2.8	0.2	3.9	0.0	3.0
September	0.2	1.9	0.4	3.1	0.5	3.9	0.5	3.0
October	0.4	2.2	0.4	3.1	0.5	4.1	0.7	3.2
November	-0.4	1.8	0.1	3.6	-0.3	3.6	-0.3	3.2
December	0.0	2.0	0.0	3.6	-0.3	3.2	-0.6	3.0

The August 2020 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on September 11, 2020.

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 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 5,000 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 (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-Long Beach-Anaheim. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of Los Angeles and Orange 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-Long Beach-Anaheim (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	May 2020	Jun. 2020	Jul. 2020	Jul. 2019	May 2020	Jun. 2020
Expenditure category
All items	276.842	278.121	279.899	1.9	1.1	0.6
All items (1967=100)	817.913	821.692	826.946	-	-	-
Food and beverages	278.810	279.880	279.461	4.7	0.2	-0.1
Food	279.152	278.999	280.204	4.6	0.4	0.4
Food at home	267.566	265.933	265.709	3.5	-0.7	-0.1
Cereals and bakery products	282.739	279.137	275.677	-0.9	-2.5	-1.2
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	306.865	304.442	295.628	5.9	-3.7	-2.9
Dairy and related products	263.686	254.502	256.966	4.5	-2.5	1.0
Fruits and vegetables	347.840	355.139	363.937	5.3	4.6	2.5
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	271.735	271.228	264.679	3.6	-2.6	-2.4
Other food at home	199.090	196.604	200.909	1.5	0.9	2.2
Food away from home	287.618	288.908	291.494	5.7	1.3	0.9
Alcoholic beverages	254.708	269.985	250.624	4.5	-1.6	-7.2
Housing	324.152	324.922	326.919	3.1	0.9	0.6
Shelter	374.276	375.172	377.002	3.3	0.7	0.5
Rent of primary residence(2)	399.259	399.973	400.287	3.6	0.3	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)	390.476	391.458	392.021	3.3	0.4	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	390.454	391.436	391.998	3.3	0.4	0.1
Fuels and utilities	349.707	349.898	356.211	6.0	1.9	1.8
Household energy	306.992	307.227	308.821	6.3	0.6	0.5
Energy services(2)	305.686	305.967	307.536	6.4	0.6	0.5
Electricity(2)	345.607	344.110	347.185	4.3	0.5	0.9
Utility (piped) gas service(2)	264.700	268.666	267.355	12.4	1.0	-0.5
Household furnishings and operations	120.960	121.428	122.514	-0.7	1.3	0.9
Apparel	103.244	104.058	105.437	-0.4	2.1	1.3
Transportation	194.270	199.707	202.731	-6.6	4.4	1.5
Private transportation	192.695	198.058	201.397	-6.0	4.5	1.7
New and used motor vehicles(4)	90.029	89.615	89.794	-2.5	-0.3	0.2
New vehicles(1)	172.184	171.152	170.138	0.7	-1.2	-0.6
Used cars and trucks(1)	264.445	261.205	269.844	-1.4	2.0	3.3
Motor fuel	215.604	228.537	238.014	-16.6	10.4	4.1
Gasoline (all types)	210.463	223.166	232.451	-16.6	10.4	4.2
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	209.198	222.328	231.515	-17.0	10.7	4.1
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	205.559	215.821	224.835	-16.4	9.4	4.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	207.318	218.181	227.498	-14.6	9.7	4.3
Motor vehicle insurance(1)	679.162	768.278	786.324	1.5	15.8	2.3
Medical care	511.177	506.888	511.623	5.1	0.1	0.9
Recreation(6)	107.591	106.313	105.458	1.1	-2.0	-0.8
Education and communication(6)	149.334	148.297	150.956	2.0	1.1	1.8
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,968.023	1,969.840	1,969.854	2.6	0.1	0.0
Other goods and services	449.121	460.930	459.519	3.5	2.3	-0.3
Commodity and service group
All items	276.842	278.121	279.899	1.9	1.1	0.6
Commodities	181.378	182.603	183.933	-0.5	1.4	0.7
Commodities less food & beverages	131.888	133.148	135.234	-4.7	2.5	1.6
Nondurables less food & beverages	174.971	177.915	181.290	-5.9	3.6	1.9
Durables	89.441	89.304	90.243	-2.8	0.9	1.1
Services	362.004	363.293	365.455	3.0	1.0	0.6
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	266.754	268.222	269.884	1.7	1.2	0.6
All items less shelter	233.970	235.405	237.153	1.0	1.4	0.7
Commodities less food	137.103	138.862	140.211	-4.1	2.3	1.0
Nondurables	228.048	230.067	231.556	0.1	1.5	0.6
Nondurables less food	182.591	186.476	188.202	-4.9	3.1	0.9
Services less rent of shelter(3)	353.953	355.848	358.530	2.7	1.3	0.8
Services less medical care services	348.431	349.903	351.878	2.7	1.0	0.6
Energy	249.692	258.193	264.930	-8.4	6.1	2.6
All items less energy	280.859	281.664	283.124	2.6	0.8	0.5
All items less food and energy	281.340	282.329	283.839	2.3	0.9	0.5
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base. (2) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (3) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (6) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.