Prices in the San Francisco area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.4 percent for the two months ending in December 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the December increase was influenced by higher prices for new and used motor vehicles and household furnishings and operations. (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 2.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.4 percent over the year. Food prices rose 6.9 percent. Energy prices declined 1.4 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 1.0 percent for the two months ending in December. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home advanced 1.1 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 1.0 percent for the same period, influenced by higher prices for meat, poultry, fish and eggs (3.9 percent).

Over the year, food prices rose 6.9 percent. Prices for food at home rose 8.4 percent since a year ago, and prices for food away from home rose 5.4 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 0.9 percent for the two months ending in December. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for natural gas service (-10.0 percent). Prices for gasoline rose 0.3 percent, while prices for electricity were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices declined 1.4 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-9.2 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service jumped 13.8 percent, and prices for electricity rose 5.9 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for new and used motor vehicles (6.2 percent), household furnishings and operations (3.9 percent), and apparel (2.1 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for medical care (-0.8 percent) and shelter (-0.2 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.4 percent. Components contributing to the increase included household furnishings and operations (9.6 percent), new and used motor vehicles (5.3 percent), and shelter (1.3 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in apparel (-5.7 percent) and medical care (-1.7 percent).

Table A. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
February	0.9	3.0	0.8	3.4	1.4	3.6	0.5	3.5	0.9	2.9
April	0.7	2.7	1.1	3.8	0.8	3.2	1.2	4.0	-0.5	1.1
June	0.6	2.7	0.3	3.5	0.9	3.9	0.2	3.2	0.7	1.6
August	0.7	3.1	0.2	3.0	0.6	4.3	0.1	2.7	0.0	1.6
October	0.9	3.6	0.6	2.7	0.7	4.4	1.0	3.0	0.5	1.1
December	-0.3	3.5	-0.1	2.9	0.1	4.5	-0.5	2.5	0.4	2.0

The February 2021 Consumer Price Index for the San Francisco area is scheduled to be released on March 10, 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 San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA. metropolitan area covered in this release is comprised of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo Counties in the State of California.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments 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

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020	Dec. 2020	Dec. 2019	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020
Expenditure category
All items	301.736	-	302.948	2.0	0.4	-
All items (1967=100)	927.620	-	931.345	-	-	-
Food and beverages	306.640	-	311.289	6.9	1.5	-
Food	306.683	-	309.903	6.9	1.0	-
Food at home	273.855	271.026	276.632	8.4	1.0	2.1
Cereals and bakery products	297.907	-	274.104	4.7	-8.0	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	291.640	-	302.923	17.5	3.9	-
Dairy and related products	286.002	-	292.860	7.3	2.4	-
Fruits and vegetables	370.335	-	380.780	12.2	2.8	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	197.425	-	200.308	-3.8	1.5	-
Other food at home	222.887	-	224.729	4.5	0.8	-
Food away from home	343.914	-	347.655	5.4	1.1	-
Alcoholic beverages	309.500	-	331.788	6.6	7.2	-
Housing	360.365	-	360.604	2.3	0.1	-
Shelter	409.262	409.791	408.547	1.3	-0.2	-0.3
Rent of primary residence(2)	468.725	469.137	468.851	0.7	0.0	-0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(2)(3)	439.287	439.320	439.175	1.8	0.0	0.0
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	439.287	439.320	439.175	1.8	0.0	0.0
Fuels and utilities	454.677	-	448.817	6.6	-1.3	-
Household energy	395.792	387.455	387.643	7.3	-2.1	0.0
Energy services(2)	397.431	388.872	389.079	7.4	-2.1	0.1
Electricity(2)	418.345	418.345	418.345	5.9	0.0	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service(2)	351.688	315.730	316.601	13.8	-10.0	0.3
Household furnishings and operations	148.320	-	154.036	9.6	3.9	-
Apparel	97.508	-	99.570	-5.7	2.1	-
Transportation	199.173	-	201.420	-2.1	1.1	-
Private transportation	195.173	-	201.613	0.5	3.3	-
New and used motor vehicles(4)	93.468	-	99.226	5.3	6.2	-
New vehicles(1)	156.445	-	164.646	4.5	5.2	-
Used cars and trucks(1)	276.003	-	270.081	9.1	-2.1	-
Motor fuel	236.633	236.201	237.489	-9.3	0.4	0.5
Gasoline (all types)	235.820	235.344	236.514	-9.2	0.3	0.5
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	235.004	234.535	235.524	-9.5	0.2	0.4
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	223.775	222.670	225.011	-8.9	0.6	1.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	226.343	225.956	227.645	-8.3	0.6	0.7
Motor vehicle insurance(1)	510.364	-	521.248	-2.5	2.1	-
Medical care	549.432	-	545.016	-1.7	-0.8	-
Recreation(6)	125.741	-	125.834	4.6	0.1	-
Education and communication(6)	150.807	-	151.046	0.2	0.2	-
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)	1,813.998	-	1,815.374	-0.9	0.1	-
Other goods and services	516.488	-	523.161	4.1	1.3	-
Commodity and service group
All items	301.736	-	302.948	2.0	0.4	-
Commodities	195.480	-	198.670	3.6	1.6	-
Commodities less food & beverages	136.971	-	139.370	0.4	1.8	-
Nondurables less food & beverages	176.727	-	178.743	-2.6	1.1	-
Durables	97.579	-	100.055	4.6	2.5	-
Services	390.133	-	389.878	1.4	-0.1	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	291.583	-	292.990	2.3	0.5	-
All items less shelter	257.109	-	259.377	2.6	0.9	-
Commodities less food	144.291	-	147.395	0.9	2.2	-
Nondurables	243.351	-	246.720	3.4	1.4	-
Nondurables less food	187.047	-	190.577	-1.5	1.9	-
Services less rent of shelter(3)	383.125	-	383.574	1.5	0.1	-
Services less medical care services	379.150	-	379.118	1.5	0.0	-
Energy	301.437	297.853	298.710	-1.4	-0.9	0.3
All items less energy	305.402	-	306.814	2.2	0.5	-
All items less food and energy	306.041	-	307.173	1.4	0.4	-
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.