Consumer Price Index

Current CPI Economic News Releases

• CPI News Release (HTML) (PDF)
• Subscribe to the BLS News Service—receive the Consumer Price Index news release by e-mail.
• Upcoming Release Dates through November 2016.
• CPI News Release Issued by BLS Regional Offices

Archived

• Archived CPI News Releases (1994 forward)
• CPI Supplemental files

Databases

Database Name	Special Notice	Top Picks	One Screen	Multi- Screen	Tables	Text Files
All Urban Consumers (Current Series) (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series) (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
All Urban Consumers (Chained CPI) (Consumer Price Index - CPI)
Average Price Data (Consumer Price Index - CPI)

Calculators

Calculator Name	Calculator
Inflation Easily find out how the buying power of the dollar has changed over the years using the inflation calculator.

More Tools

• Series Report—Already know the series identifier for the statistic you want? Use this shortcut to retrieve your data.

• Text files - For those who want it all. Download a flat file of the entire database or large subset of the database.
  • All Urban Consumers (Current Series)
  • Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (Current Series)
  • All Urban Consumers (Chained CPI)
  • Average Price Data
  • Department Store Inventory Price Index
  • Special Requests

All CPI Databases »

Consumer Price Index History Table:

• Table Containing History of CPI-U U.S. All Items Indexes and Annual Percent Changes From 1913 to Present is now available in the CPI Detailed Report as Table 24

CPI Detailed Report Tables:

• CPI Detailed Report (tables 1-29 only) April 2016 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) March 2016 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) February 2016 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) January 2016 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables, including second half and annual averages) December 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) November 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) October 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) September 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) August 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) July 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report First Half 2015 semiannual Averages (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables, including first half semiannual average indexes) June 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report First Half 2015 semiannual Averages (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) May 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) April 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) March 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) February 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables, including second half 2014 semiannual averages and 2014 annual averages) Janurary 2015 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) December 2014 (PDF)
• CPI Detailed Report (complete text and tables) November 2014 (PDF)
• Archived CPI Detailed Report Tables October 2000-current

Relative Importance of Items in the Consumer Price Index

December 2015

• Table 1, U.S. City Average using 2013-2014 weights (TXT)
• Table 1, U.S. City Average using 2011-2012 weights (PDF)
• Tables 1 - 7, Relative Importance of Components in the Consumer Price Index, all areas (PDF)

Relative Importance files for earlier years may be found on our Archived Relative Importance's page

Department Store Inventory Price Indexes

Department Store Inventory Price Indexes were last published for December 2013. Indexes are available at http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpilifo.htm

Publications

• CPI Detailed Reports
• BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index (PDF)
• Note on Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers

Reports

• CPI research series using current methods
• Pharmaceutical Pricing in the PPI, CPI, and IPP
• Reconciliation Between the CPI and PCE Price Index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) undertook a joint project to detail and quantify the differences between the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Chain-type Price Index. A paper summarizing these differences can be found on the BEA website at http://www.bea.gov/papers/pdf/cpi_pce.pdf. The latest reconciliation tables can be found at http://www.bea.gov/national/consumer_spending.htm.
• The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) produces regional price parities (RPPs). RPPs measure the differences in the price levels of goods and services across states and metropolitan areas for a given year. RPPs are expressed as a percentage of the overall national price level for each year, which is equal to 100.0. These data, which are the products of BEA and not BLS, can be found at https://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/rpp/rpp_newsrelease.htm.
• Treatment of Owner-Occupied Housing in the CPI - Paper presented to the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) on December 9, 2005 (PDF)
• Updating the Housing Age-Bias Regression model in the Consumer Price Index (PDF)
• Guidelines for Quality Adjustment of New Vehicle Prices (PDF)
• Experimental Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of Age and Older, 1982-2007 (Monthly Labor Review April 2008) (PDF)
• Experimental Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of Age and Older, 1982-2009 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2015 (PDF)
• Response rates for earlier years
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2003 - December 2003 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2004 - December 2004 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2005 - December 2005 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2006 - December 2006 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2007 - December 2007 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2008 - December 2008 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2009 - December 2009 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2010 - December 2010 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2011 - December 2011 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2012 - December 2012 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2013 - December 2013 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2014 - December 2014 (PDF)
• Consumer Price Index Users Survey (PDF 262K)
• Hedonic Quality Adjustment in the U.S. CPI

Monthly Labor Review articles related to the Consumer Price Index

• Updating the Rent Sample for the CPI Housing Survey
• PPI and CPI seasonal adjustment
• Producing Diseased-Based Price Indexes
• Addressing misconceptions about the Consumer Price Index
• Price measures of new vehicles: a comparison
• A hedonic model for Internet access service in the Consumer Price Index
• Price measurement in the United States: A decade after the Boskin Report
• Comparing U.S. and European inflation: the CPI and the HICP
• The CE and the PCE: a comparison
• Interarea price levels: an experimental methodology
• The effects of rounding on the Consumer Price Index
• Item replacement and quality change in apparel price indexes

CPI Fact Sheets

• Understanding the Consumer Price Index: Answers to Some Questions
• How BLS Measures Changes in Consumer Prices
• Guide to Available CPI Data (PDF 15K)
• How to Use the Consumer Price Index for Escalation (PDF 12K)
• The Consumer Price Index--Why the Published Averages Don't Always Match An Individual's Inflation Experience (PDF 136KB)
• Math Calculations to Better Utilize CPI Data (PDF 39K)

How BLS Measures Price Change in the Consumer Price Index for:

• Airline Fares
• Cable Television
• Household Fuels
• Leased Cars
• Lodging Away from Home
• Medical Care
• Motor Fuels
• Motor Vehicle Insurance
• New Vehicles
• Personal Computers and Peripheral Equipment
• Rent and Rental Equivalence
• Telephone Services
• Tuition and Fees, College
• Tuition and Fees, Elementary and High School
• Used Cars and Trucks

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the CPI?
2. How is the CPI used?
3. Whose buying habits does the CPI reflect?
4. Is the CPI a cost-of-living index?
5. Does the CPI measure my experience with price changes?
6. How is the CPI market basket determined?
7. What goods and services does the CPI cover?
8. How are CPI prices collected and reviewed?
9. How is the CPI calculated?
10. How are taxes treated in the CPI?

All CPI FAQs »

Notices

Revised Seasonal Indexes

UPDATED Each year with the release of the January CPI, seasonal adjustment factors are recalculated to reflect price movements from the just-completed calendar year. This routine annual recalculation may result in revisions to seasonally adjusted indexes for the previous 5 years. BLS made available recalculated seasonally adjusted indexes, as well as recalculated seasonal adjustment factors, for the period January 2011 through December 2015, on Wednesday, February 17, 2016.

For information on seasonal adjustment in the CPI, including revised indexes, seasonal factors, methodology, and actions taken in 2015, see our page on seasonal adjustment.

Social Security COLA

Soon after the publication of September CPI data each October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces the annual change in its benefit payments for the coming year for Social Security's Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) programs. Specific information on how the Social Security Administration uses the CPI to determine cost-of-living adjustments can be found at http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/colasummary.html.

CPI Published Numbers

Effective with the release in February 2007 of the January 2007 Consumer Price Index (CPI), the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) began to publish its consumer price indexes rounded to three decimal places. Percent changes will be calculated from the three decimal place indexes. Those percent changes will continue to be published to one decimal place. For additional information, please see "Publishing Consumer Price Indexes to Three Decimal Places: Questions and Answers".

Contacts

For hard copies of Consumer Price Index publications or historical data and help with general index questions, including escalator clauses in contracts:

• Information and Analysis: (202) 691-7000

For more information about how we treat and price commodity and service items in the Consumer Price Index:

• Food: (202) 691-6988
• Housing (rent and owners' equivalent rent): (202) 691-6991
• Transportation and Household Commodities (including gasoline, new cars, furniture and appliances): (202) 691-6982
• Apparel and Sundry (Nondurable) Commodities: (202) 691-6979
• Services (including medical care, utilities, insurance): (202) 691-6985

For help finding Consumer Price Index data in LABSTAT and for information on seasonal adjustment and other technical issues:

• Production and Control: (202) 691-6968