The Consumer Price Index (CPI) omes out during the third week of each month and is a measure of the change in prices paid over time for a fixed market basket of goods and services. Municipalities use the percentage change in the CPI as a reference point for determining cost of living raises. Annual percentage changes are listed month by month at the bottom of each table below.
CPI-U = a measure of the percentage change in prices faced by urban consumers (80% of the population). Please choose from the links below for CPI-U tables.
CPI-W = a measure of the percentage change in prices faced by wage earners and clerical workers (32% of
the population). Please choose from the links below for CPI-W tables.For quick retrieval of percentage changes, the tables above have been provided. For more in-depth analysis, use the link below to access CPI data on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Web site.
Directions for Retrieving CPI data via the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Web site
When you click on CPI-U or CPI-W above, you will see a form to fill out and submit in order to retrieve data.
1. The first list on the form allows you to choose various market baskets of goods and/or services. For instance, instead of "All items," you may choose "Transportation" or "Recreation" to be more specific. The first list also allows you to choose various geographical regions. You do not have to make one choice at a time from this list. You may check off as many boxes as you'd like (by clicking on them) and the retrieved table will include data sets for each of your choices.
2. The second box ("Year(s) to Report for:") allows you to select a preset range of years.
3. The third list ("Format:"), allows you to retrieve net and percentage changes, month by month. To retrieve percentage changes, choose 3. on the list.
4. You can leave the rest at the defaults.
5. Click on "Retrieve data" and another form will appear (Further Formatting Options for Format 3).
6. The first box allows you to customize your year range by typing that year range (using 4 digits) in the box. If you want to keep the range of years you chose earlier, leave this box blank.
7. The next four boxes give you two choices (a. and b.). You may either get the net change by filling out a. or the percentage change by filling out b., or you may get both the net and percentage change by filling out all four boxes.
a. The next two boxes (Calculate Net Change) allow you to retrieve net changes, month by month, by typing m01/1997 in the first box and m01/1998 in the second box. In this example, you will retrieve the net change from January 1997 to January 1998. If you wanted the net change from October 1997 to October 1998, you would type in m10/1997 in the first box and m10/1998 in the second box. You must include the letter m in front of the date in order to retrieve the data.
b. The next two boxes (Calculate Percentage Change) allow you to retrieve percentage changes, month by month, by typing m03/1997 in the first box and m03/1998 in the second box. In this example, you will retrieve the percentage change from March 1997 to March 1998. If you wanted the percentage change from December 1997 to December 1998, you would type in m12/1997 in the first box and m12/1998 in the second box. You must include the letter m in front of the date in order to retrieve the data.
9. Click on "Retrieve data" and a table (or tables) will appear with the monthly net and/or percentage change at the bottom of the table.