Consumer Price Index, Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach – December 2021

News Release Information

22-60-ATL
Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Area prices up 7.1 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach rose 1.2 percent from October to December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Janet S. Rankin noted that the index for all items less food and energy also rose 1.2 percent over the bi-monthly period. The food index and the energy index increased from October to December, up 1.0 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U advanced 7.1 percent for the 12 months ending in December. The index for all items less food and energy rose 6.0 percent over the past 12 months, while the energy index advanced 29.3 percent. The food index increased 3.1 percent over the past year. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

View Chart Data

Food

The food index rose 1.0 percent from October to December, led by a 1.5-percent increase in the food away from home index. The food at home index also increased over the bi-monthly period, up 0.6 percent.

The food index increased 3.1 percent for the 12 months ending in December, reflecting a 7.9-percent increase in the food away home index. In contrast, the food at home index edged down 0.3 percent over the past year.

Energy

The energy index rose 1.2 percent from October to December. The gasoline index rose 2.0 percent over the bi-monthly period and the utility (piped) gas service index rose 3.6 percent. The electricity index was unchanged from October to December.

The energy index advanced 29.3 percent for the 12 months ending in December, led by a 50.6-percent spike in the gasoline index. The electricity and the utility (piped) gas service indexes also increased over the past year, up 5.9 percent and 9.5 percent, respectively.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.2 percent from October to December, largely due to a 1.3-percent increase in the shelter index. The new and used motor vehicles index rose 4.0 percent over the bi-monthly period, led by a 5.9-percent increase in the used cars and trucks index; the new vehicles index contributed to the increase, up 3.8 percent. The other goods and services index (9.3 percent) was among the indexes to increase from October to December. In contrast, the apparel index declined over the bi-monthly period, down 5.1 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.0 percent for the 12 months ending in December, led by a 4.9-percent increase in the shelter index. The new and used motor vehicles index rose 18.6 percent over the past year, reflecting increases in the used cars and trucks (37.2 percent) and the new vehicles (16.5 percent) indexes.

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	1.3	4.0	2.6	3.2	1.0	1.2	0.4	1.4	0.8	1.4
April	-0.5	2.8	-0.1	3.5	0.8	2.2	-1.0	-0.5	1.6	4.1
June	-0.2	2.0	0.5	4.2	-0.5	1.2	0.7	0.7	1.6	5.1
August	0.3	2.3	-0.3	3.6	0.4	1.9	1.0	1.4	0.2	4.2
October	1.0	2.7	0.8	3.4	0.4	1.5	0.1	1.0	1.5	5.7
December	-0.1	1.8	-0.6	2.9	-0.2	2.0	-0.2	1.1	1.2	7.1

The Consumer Price Index for January 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, February 10, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total 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 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL, Core Based Statistical Area covered in this release is comprised of Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach Counties in Florida.

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. 2021	Nov. 2021	Dec. 2021	Dec. 2020	Oct. 2021	Nov. 2021
Expenditure category
All Items	289.793	-	293.284	7.1	1.2	-
All items (November 1977=100)	467.107	-	472.733	-	-	-
Food and beverages	283.418	-	285.940	2.6	0.9	-
Food	289.565	-	292.345	3.1	1.0	-
Food at home	273.541	273.672	275.096	-0.3	0.6	0.5
Cereals and bakery products	326.251	-	329.662	4.6	1.0	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	285.501	-	280.399	3.4	-1.8	-
Dairy and related products	234.421	-	239.863	-1.3	2.3	-
Fruits and vegetables	327.722	-	319.067	-7.9	-2.6	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	259.907	-	261.373	-4.2	0.6	-
Other food at home	215.528	-	227.574	1.5	5.6	-
Food away from home	317.929	-	322.647	7.9	1.5	-
Alcoholic beverages	211.021	-	-	-	-	-
Housing	304.341	-	308.144	5.4	1.2	-
Shelter	350.241	352.244	354.776	4.9	1.3	0.7
Rent of primary residence	339.577	341.062	343.250	3.7	1.1	0.6
Owners' equiv. rent of residences	354.432	356.151	357.607	4.1	0.9	0.4
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence	354.432	356.151	357.607	4.1	0.9	0.4
Fuels and utilities	186.571	-	186.737	5.0	0.1	-
Household energy	157.339	157.469	157.527	6.3	0.1	0.0
Energy services	154.395	154.434	154.515	6.0	0.1	0.1
Electricity	151.203	151.203	151.203	5.9	0.0	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service	191.811	194.051	198.757	9.5	3.6	2.4
Household furnishings and operations	182.992	-	186.487	10.2	1.9	-
Apparel	145.372	-	137.959	0.6	-5.1	-
Transportation	257.566	-	261.421	23.2	1.5	-
Private transportation	267.609	-	274.432	23.7	2.5	-
New and used motor vehicles	135.752	-	141.151	18.6	4.0	-
New vehicles	260.086	-	269.991	16.5	3.8	-
Used cars and trucks	413.645	-	437.894	37.2	5.9	-
Motor fuel	289.224	298.809	294.780	50.4	1.9	-1.3
Gasoline (all types)	286.019	295.558	291.628	50.6	2.0	-1.3
Unleaded regular	282.889	292.330	288.084	51.8	1.8	-1.5
Unleaded midgrade	277.174	286.793	285.604	43.8	3.0	-0.4
Unleaded premium	299.929	309.810	308.176	41.9	2.7	-0.5
Motor vehicle insurance	965.589	-	965.589	9.3	0.0	-
Medical Care	588.759	-	591.075	3.0	0.4	-
Recreation	123.793	-	126.723	2.8	2.4	-
Education and communication	125.149	-	124.753	1.7	-0.3	-
Tuition, other school fees, and child care	1,052.778	-	1,052.767	3.0	0.0	-
Other goods and services	376.144	-	410.945	13.2	9.3	-
Commodity and service group
All Items	289.793	-	293.284	7.1	1.2	-
Commodities	226.744	-	229.531	12.8	1.2	-
Commodities less food & beverages	190.394	-	193.095	19.4	1.4	-
Nondurables less food & beverages	222.771	-	222.930	18.2	0.1	-
Durables	154.242	-	159.025	20.9	3.1	-
Services	338.639	-	342.681	4.7	1.2	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	277.121	-	280.655	7.5	1.3	-
All items less shelter	257.938	-	260.877	8.8	1.1	-
Commodities less food	191.679	-	194.296	18.4	1.4	-
Nondurables	255.943	-	257.176	9.8	0.5	-
Nondurables less food	222.104	-	222.232	16.6	0.1	-
Services less rent of shelter	330.483	-	333.871	4.5	1.0	-
Services less medical care services	319.405	-	323.404	4.9	1.3	-
Energy	216.746	221.150	219.360	29.3	1.2	-0.8
All items less energy	297.991	-	301.579	5.6	1.2	-
All items less food and energy	299.596	-	303.298	6.0	1.2	-
- Data not available. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.