Consumer Price Index, Los Angeles area – December 2020

News Release Information

21-44-SAN
Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Area prices were down 0.2 percent over the past month, up 1.5 percent from a year ago

Prices in the Los Angeles area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), decreased 0.2 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Richard Holden noted that the December decrease was influenced by lower prices for apparel 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 advanced 1.5 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) This marks the tenth consecutive month of price increases of 2.0 percent or less. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.5 percent over the year. Food prices rose 4.5 percent. Energy prices declined 5.7 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 0.2 percent for the month of December. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home increased 0.3 percent largely due to price advances for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (1.2 percent) and dairy and related products (1.1 percent). Prices for food away from home moved up 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 4.5 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 5.6 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home increased 3.3 percent.

Energy

The energy index increased 0.6 percent over the month. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (0.8 percent). Prices for natural gas service advanced 1.7 percent, while prices for electricity were unchanged for the same period.

Energy prices declined 5.7 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-14.5 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service jumped 13.1 percent, and prices for electricity rose 9.4 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.3 percent in December. Lower prices for apparel (-4.4 percent), recreation (-1.8 percent), and household furnishings and operations (-1.4 percent) were partially offset by higher prices for new vehicles (1.0 percent) and education and communication (0.4 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 (4.2 percent) and shelter (1.1 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in apparel (-1.8 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-0.1 percent).

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	-0.2	1.5

The January 2021 Consumer Price Index for the Los Angeles area is scheduled to be released on February 10, 2021.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on December 2020 Consumer Price Index Data

Data collection by personal visit for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) program has been suspended 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. Additional information is available at https://www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-consumer-price-index.htm.

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/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 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: [phone]; Federal Relay Service: [phone].

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020	Dec. 2020	Dec. 2019	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020
Expenditure category
All items	279.947	280.102	279.560	1.5	-0.1	-0.2
All items (1967=100)	827.088	827.545	825.943	-	-	-
Food and beverages	281.665	281.077	281.658	5.2	0.0	0.2
Food	282.121	280.852	281.552	4.5	-0.2	0.2
Food at home	267.182	264.325	265.017	3.3	-0.8	0.3
Cereals and bakery products	280.215	276.914	277.127	2.1	-1.1	0.1
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	297.874	294.640	294.757	4.7	-1.0	0.0
Dairy and related products	257.931	254.654	257.360	1.7	-0.2	1.1
Fruits and vegetables	364.104	360.548	359.525	5.0	-1.3	-0.3
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	264.366	263.921	267.137	2.9	1.0	1.2
Other food at home	202.108	199.194	199.659	2.3	-1.2	0.2
Food away from home	293.824	294.116	294.816	5.6	0.3	0.2
Alcoholic beverages	256.017	263.423	262.588	15.4	2.6	-0.3
Housing	325.723	324.681	324.149	1.5	-0.5	-0.2
Shelter	375.196	374.409	374.059	1.1	-0.3	-0.1
Rent of primary residence	399.028	399.286	399.271	1.3	0.1	0.0
Owners' equiv. rent of residences	391.973	391.008	391.045	1.6	-0.2	0.0
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence	391.950	390.986	391.023	1.6	-0.2	0.0
Fuels and utilities	363.872	358.059	359.099	8.2	-1.3	0.3
Household energy	318.229	311.089	312.367	10.3	-1.8	0.4
Energy services	316.915	309.675	310.964	10.3	-1.9	0.4
Electricity	361.126	361.082	361.082	9.4	0.0	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service	268.634	245.671	249.775	13.1	-7.0	1.7
Household furnishings and operations	120.701	120.354	118.717	-0.1	-1.6	-1.4
Apparel	110.685	109.352	104.579	-1.8	-5.5	-4.4
Transportation	203.415	205.939	206.284	-3.6	1.4	0.2
Private transportation	199.929	202.898	205.099	-3.3	2.6	1.1
New and used motor vehicles	87.585	91.440	92.134	2.7	5.2	0.8
New vehicles	166.373	170.244	171.936	2.1	3.3	1.0
Used cars and trucks	293.357	289.811	287.062	9.2	-2.1	-0.9
Motor fuel	242.042	238.730	240.660	-14.5	-0.6	0.8
Gasoline (all types)	236.445	233.181	235.018	-14.5	-0.6	0.8
Gasoline, unleaded regular	235.584	232.135	234.021	-14.9	-0.7	0.8
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade	229.142	227.580	228.316	-14.1	-0.4	0.3
Gasoline, unleaded premium	231.003	228.358	230.072	-12.7	-0.4	0.8
Motor vehicle insurance	768.182	768.182	788.183	0.7	2.6	2.6
Medical care	506.799	507.010	506.219	4.2	-0.1	-0.2
Recreation	105.041	107.758	105.869	0.0	0.8	-1.8
Education and communication	151.505	151.268	151.838	1.9	0.2	0.4
Tuition, other school fees, and child care	1,968.838	1,963.776	1,963.558	0.2	-0.3	0.0
Other goods and services	449.762	452.822	454.213	1.5	1.0	0.3
Commodity and service group
All items	279.947	280.102	279.560	1.5	-0.1	-0.2
Commodities	185.088	184.780	184.677	1.0	-0.2	-0.1
Commodities less food & beverages	135.880	135.708	135.296	-2.6	-0.4	-0.3
Nondurables less food & beverages	181.569	180.616	178.861	-6.0	-1.5	-1.0
Durables	91.132	91.581	92.245	2.9	1.2	0.7
Services	364.403	365.011	364.052	1.7	-0.1	-0.3
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	270.104	270.256	269.726	1.3	-0.1	-0.2
All items less shelter	237.989	238.544	237.923	1.7	0.0	-0.3
Commodities less food	141.028	141.120	140.691	-1.6	-0.2	-0.3
Nondurables	232.803	232.028	231.437	0.6	-0.6	-0.3
Nondurables less food	188.862	188.518	186.814	-4.1	-1.1	-0.9
Services less rent of shelter	358.643	361.281	359.424	2.5	0.2	-0.5
Services less medical care services	351.024	351.674	350.789	1.4	-0.1	-0.3
Energy	270.903	266.204	267.915	-5.7	-1.1	0.6
All items less energy	282.775	283.257	282.559	1.9	-0.1	-0.2
All items less food and energy	283.055	283.873	282.907	1.5	-0.1	-0.3
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.