BLS U S Bureau of Labor Statistics : Consumer Price Index, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area – December 2021

News Release Information

22-45-CHI
Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Area prices were up 1.1 percent over the past two months, up 7.0 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 1.1 percent for the two months ending in December 2021, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that food prices increased 1.6 percent, and the energy index declined 1.1 percent from October to December. The all items less food and energy index rose 1.2 percent over the past two months due to increases in the categories for shelter, used cars and trucks, household furnishings and operations, and recreation. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

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Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 7.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 5.0 percent over the year. Energy prices advanced 27.4 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. Food prices increased 9.6 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 1.6 percent for the two months ending in December. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home (groceries) increased 0.9 percent, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 2.5 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 9.6 percent. Prices for food at home rose 10.0 percent since a year ago, and prices for food away from home increased 9.1 percent.

Energy

The energy index decreased 1.1 percent for the two months ending in December. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for electricity (-4.2 percent). Prices for utility (piped) gas service rose 2.5 percent, while prices for gasoline decreased 0.8 percent for the same period.

Energy prices increased 27.4 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (54.8 percent). Prices paid for utility (piped) gas service advanced 17.7 percent, and prices for electricity rose 2.1 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.2 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for shelter (2.0 percent), used cars and trucks (6.4 percent), household furnishings and operations (2.3 percent), and recreation (2.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-1.6 percent) and other goods and services (-0.4 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 5.0 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (7.2 percent) and used cars and trucks (37.9 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in apparel (-4.1 percent).

Month	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021
	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	0.3	2.1	0.4	1.2	0.5	2.6	0.6	0.8
April	0.7	2.3	0.9	2.3	0.6	1.0	-2.7	-0.8	1.7	5.4
June	0.0	1.1	1.3	3.6	0.4	0.1	1.7	0.5	1.7	5.4
August	0.1	1.3	-0.6	2.8	0.6	1.4	1.9	1.8	0.5	3.9
October	0.9	2.0	0.0	1.9	1.0	2.4	-0.3	0.5	1.2	5.5
December	0.1	2.7	-0.6	1.2	-0.6	2.5	-0.3	0.7	1.1	7.0

The February 2022 Consumer Price Index for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, March 10, 2022.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on December 2021 Consumer Price Index Data

Data collection by personal visit for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) program has been suspended almost entirely since March 16, 2020. When possible, data normally collected by personal visit were collected either online or by phone. Additionally, data collection in December was affected by the temporary closing or limited operations of certain types of establishments. These factors resulted in an increase in the number of prices considered temporarily unavailable and imputed.

While the CPI program attempted to collect as much data as possible, many indexes are based on smaller amounts of collected prices than usual, and a small number of indexes that are normally published were not published this month.

For each month from March 2020 to December 2021, BLS has published a summary of the impact of the pandemic on the Consumer Price Index news release and data. The impact summary for December is available at www.bls.gov/covid19/consumer-price-index-covid19-impacts-december-2021.htm. Beginning with publication of January 2022 data in February 2022, this month-specific impact summary will be discontinued. However, information related to the impact of the pandemic will continue to be available at www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-consumer-price-index.htm.

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 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/cpiand 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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: [phone]; Federal Relay Service: [phone].

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Oct. 2021	Nov. 2021	Dec. 2021	Dec. 2020	Oct. 2021	Nov. 2021
Expenditure category
All items	253.051	-	255.782	7.0	1.1	-
All items (1967=100)	752.173	-	760.290	-	-	-
Food and beverages	246.938	-	250.533	8.9	1.5	-
Food	247.906	-	251.847	9.6	1.6	-
Food at home	235.949	234.055	237.975	10.0	0.9	1.7
Cereals and bakery products	290.750	-	300.867	13.6	3.5	-
Meats, poultry, fish and eggs	271.275	-	277.585	20.3	2.3	-
Dairy and related products	170.116	-	175.462	12.8	3.1	-
Fruits and vegetables	238.266	-	237.372	5.5	-0.4	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	229.006	-	227.640	5.4	-0.6	-
Other food at home	211.276	-	209.151	4.5	-1.0	-
Food away from home	267.713	-	274.428	9.1	2.5	-
Alcoholic beverages	230.123	-	229.599	0.0	-0.2	-
Housing	242.684	-	246.673	7.2	1.6	-
Shelter	277.827	279.842	283.390	7.2	2.0	1.3
Rent of primary residence	291.189	292.695	294.295	6.7	1.1	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of residences	278.187	280.007	281.052	7.3	1.0	0.4
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence	278.187	280.007	281.052	7.3	1.0	0.4
Fuels and utilities	292.634	-	288.746	6.9	-1.3	-
Household energy	230.824	229.547	227.611	8.5	-1.4	-0.8
Energy services	232.842	231.498	229.537	8.4	-1.4	-0.8
Electricity	267.168	255.863	255.863	2.1	-4.2	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service	181.861	190.108	186.433	17.7	2.5	-1.9
Household furnishings and operations	126.011	-	128.930	7.2	2.3	-
Apparel	99.565	-	97.978	-4.1	-1.6	-
Transportation	270.262	-	272.168	11.9	0.7	-
Private transportation	277.042	-	280.297	13.2	1.2	-
New and used motor vehicles	-	-	-	-	-	-
New vehicles	-	-	-	-	-	-
Used cars and trucks	405.324	-	431.088	37.9	6.4	-
Motor fuel	291.063	297.508	288.811	54.8	-0.8	-2.9
Gasoline (all types)	289.587	295.953	287.205	54.8	-0.8	-3.0
Gasoline, unleaded regular	292.075	298.571	289.415	56.4	-0.9	-3.1
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade	342.677	349.354	342.600	50.3	0.0	-1.9
Gasoline, unleaded premium	291.005	296.671	291.152	39.3	0.1	-1.9
Motor vehicle insurance	1,915.683	-	1,887.324	-2.1	-1.5	-
Medical care	-	-	-	-	-	-
Recreation	116.295	-	118.986	3.8	2.3	-
Education and communication	152.881	-	152.555	2.8	-0.2	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare	1,384.390	-	1,384.391	4.1	0.0	-
Other goods and services	482.557	-	480.442	6.3	-0.4	-
Commodity and service group
All items	253.051	-	255.782	7.0	1.1	-
Commodities	193.033	-	195.861	11.7	1.5	-
Commodities less food and beverages	164.872	-	167.296	13.5	1.5	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	191.244	-	191.491	12.6	0.1	-
Durables	129.963	-	133.396	-	2.6	-
Services	313.811	-	316.412	4.1	0.8	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	244.374	-	247.131	7.6	1.1	-
All items less shelter	246.613	-	248.329	6.9	0.7	-
Commodities less food	167.388	-	169.731	12.9	1.4	-
Nondurables	218.788	-	220.689	10.5	0.9	-
Nondurables less food	193.678	-	193.869	11.4	0.1	-
Services less rent of shelter	366.978	-	366.039	1.2	-0.3	-
Services less medical care services	303.242	-	305.809	4.6	0.8	-
Energy	262.238	264.379	259.390	27.4	-1.1	-1.9
All items less energy	255.869	-	259.083	5.6	1.3	-
All items less food and energy	257.984	-	261.076	5.0	1.2	-
- Data not available. Note: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.