Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), edged up 0.1 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the November increase was influenced by higher prices for new motor vehicles and recreation. (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 1.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) This marks the ninth consecutive month of price increases 2.0 percent or less. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.5 percent over the year. Food prices rose 4.1 percent. Energy prices fell 10.7 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices decreased 0.4 percent for the month of November. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home decreased 1.1 percent, influenced by lower prices for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.1 percent). Prices for food away from home inched up 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 4.1 percent. Prices for food at home increased 2.8 percent, influenced by higher prices for fruits and vegetables (5.6 percent). Prices for food away from home rose 5.3 percent since a year ago.

Energy

The energy index decreased 1.7 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for natural gas service (-8.5 percent). Prices for gasoline declined 1.4 percent, while prices for electricity were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices fell 10.7 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-22.1 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service jumped 22.9 percent, and prices for electricity advanced 9.4 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.3 percent in November. Higher prices for new motor vehicles (2.3 percent) and recreation (2.6 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-1.2 percent) and shelter (-0.2 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.5 percent. Components contributing to the increase included medical care (4.5 percent) and shelter (1.1 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a price decrease in motor vehicle insurance (-1.9 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	0.1	2.0
September	0.2	1.9	0.4	3.1	0.5	3.9	0.5	3.0	-0.3	1.2
October	0.4	2.2	0.4	3.1	0.5	4.1	0.7	3.2	0.2	0.7
November	-0.4	1.8	0.1	3.6	-0.3	3.6	-0.3	3.2	0.1	1.0
December	0.0	2.0	0.0	3.6	-0.3	3.2	-0.6	3.0

The December 2020 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on January 13, 2021.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures 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 U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. 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 6,000 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; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000.  Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods 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, CA metropolitan area includes Los Angeles and Orange Counties in 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-
	Sep. 2020	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020	Nov. 2019	Sep. 2020	Oct. 2020
Expenditure category
All items	279.366	279.947	280.102	1.0	0.3	0.1
All items (1967=100)	825.370	827.088	827.545	-	-	-
Food and beverages	280.194	281.665	281.077	4.8	0.3	-0.2
Food	280.609	282.121	280.852	4.1	0.1	-0.4
Food at home	264.757	267.182	264.325	2.8	-0.2	-1.1
Cereals and bakery products	279.528	280.215	276.914	1.4	-0.9	-1.2
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	293.475	297.874	294.640	3.5	0.4	-1.1
Dairy and related products	264.571	257.931	254.654	1.0	-3.7	-1.3
Fruits and vegetables	358.118	364.104	360.548	5.6	0.7	-1.0
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	263.847	264.366	263.921	3.2	0.0	-0.2
Other food at home	198.226	202.108	199.194	1.1	0.5	-1.4
Food away from home	293.217	293.824	294.116	5.3	0.3	0.1
Alcoholic beverages	255.132	256.017	263.423	13.6	3.2	2.9
Housing	325.431	325.723	324.681	1.7	-0.2	-0.3
Shelter	375.451	375.196	374.409	1.1	-0.3	-0.2
Rent of primary residence(2)	399.559	399.028	399.286	1.6	-0.1	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)	391.998	391.973	391.008	1.8	-0.3	-0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	391.975	391.950	390.986	1.8	-0.3	-0.2
Fuels and utilities	355.796	363.872	358.059	9.6	0.6	-1.6
Household energy	308.311	318.229	311.089	12.4	0.9	-2.2
Energy services(2)	307.037	316.915	309.675	12.5	0.9	-2.3
Electricity(2)	346.838	361.126	361.082	9.4	4.1	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service(2)	266.479	268.634	245.671	22.9	-7.8	-8.5
Household furnishings and operations	120.996	120.701	120.354	1.2	-0.5	-0.3
Apparel	112.550	110.685	109.352	2.6	-2.8	-1.2
Transportation	203.106	203.415	205.939	-6.9	1.4	1.2
Private transportation	201.449	199.929	202.898	-7.3	0.7	1.5
New and used motor vehicles(4)	88.250	87.585	91.440	0.8	3.6	4.4
New vehicles(1)	169.256	166.373	170.244	0.9	0.6	2.3
Used cars and trucks(1)	290.562	293.357	289.811	10.0	-0.3	-1.2
Motor fuel	245.315	242.042	238.730	-22.0	-2.7	-1.4
Gasoline (all types)	239.630	236.445	233.181	-22.1	-2.7	-1.4
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	238.628	235.584	232.135	-22.5	-2.7	-1.5
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	232.920	229.142	227.580	-20.9	-2.3	-0.7
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	234.518	231.003	228.358	-19.8	-2.6	-1.1
Motor vehicle insurance(1)	763.114	768.182	768.182	-1.9	0.7	0.0
Medical care	509.253	506.799	507.010	4.5	-0.4	0.0
Recreation(6)	103.605	105.041	107.758	0.2	4.0	2.6
Education and communication(6)	150.811	151.505	151.268	1.3	0.3	-0.2
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,970.899	1,968.838	1,963.776	0.2	-0.4	-0.3
Other goods and services	442.513	449.762	452.822	0.6	2.3	0.7
Commodity and service group
All items	279.366	279.947	280.102	1.0	0.3	0.1
Commodities	185.529	185.088	184.780	-0.4	-0.4	-0.2
Commodities less food & beverages	137.177	135.880	135.708	-4.7	-1.1	-0.1
Nondurables less food & beverages	183.867	181.569	180.616	-8.2	-1.8	-0.5
Durables	91.562	91.132	91.581	1.4	0.0	0.5
Services	362.827	364.403	365.011	1.7	0.6	0.2
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	269.419	270.104	270.256	0.8	0.3	0.1
All items less shelter	237.055	237.989	238.544	1.0	0.6	0.2
Commodities less food	142.258	141.028	141.120	-3.7	-0.8	0.1
Nondurables	233.221	232.803	232.028	-0.9	-0.5	-0.3
Nondurables less food	190.947	188.862	188.518	-6.4	-1.3	-0.2
Services less rent of shelter(3)	354.295	358.643	361.281	2.8	2.0	0.7
Services less medical care services	349.322	351.024	351.674	1.4	0.7	0.2
Energy	269.500	270.903	266.204	-10.7	-1.2	-1.7
All items less energy	282.244	282.775	283.257	1.9	0.4	0.2
All items less food and energy	282.712	283.055	283.873	1.5	0.4	0.3
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.