United States - CPI: Urban Consumer - Butter and margarine





United States: CPI: Urban Consumer - Butter and margarine

Mnemonic XCPIUEFS01.IUSA
Unit Index Dec1997=100, NSA
Adjustments Not Seasonally Adjusted
Monthly 0.74 %
Data Feb 2024 280.14
Jan 2024 282.24

Series Information

Source U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Release Consumer Price Index (CPI)
Frequency Monthly
Start Date 12/31/1997
End Date 2/29/2024

United States: Price

Reference Last Previous Units Frequency
Consumer Price Index (CPI) Feb 2024 311.05 309.68 Index 1982-84=100, SA Monthly
Producer Price Index (PPI) Feb 2024 258.59 255.04 Index 1982=100, SA Monthly
Wholesale Price Index 2016 100.37 103.09 Index 2010 = 100 Annual

Release Information

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports monthly consumer price indices (CPI) for the United States. CPI measures the change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services. Figures are reported using various bases, both seasonally adjusted (SA) and not seasonally adjusted (NSA).

  • Classification: "CPI entry level items" (idiosyncratic)
  • Measurements:
    • Fixed-base index relative to 36-month interval 1982 to 1984 (Index 1982-84=100)
    • (Index Nov1982=100)
    • (Index Dec1982=100)
    • (Index Dec1983=100)
    • (Index Dec1984=100)
    • (Index Dec1986=100)
    • (Index Dec1990=100)
    • (Index Dec1997=100)
    • (Index Dec2009=100)
    • (Index Dec2017=100)
    • Contribution to growth (%)
  • Adjustments:
    • Seasonally adjusted (SA)
    • Not seasonally adjusted (NSA)
  • Native frequencies:
    • Monthly
    • Semiannual
  • Start date: As early as 1913m1
  • Geo coverage:
    • Country
    • Census region and division (13x C^^^)
    • MSA (select 23x IUSA_M^^^)
    • BLS city size class (CTY_^, CTY_^^, C^^^_^)
  • All concept-geo pairs exist: No

The BLS reports CPI for two different population groups:

  1. All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): all residents of the urban or metropolitan areas which include professionals, self-employed, the poor, the unemployed, retirees, and urban wage earners and clerical worker. This group represents approximately 94% of the total U.S. population. Those not included in this group are those living in rural nonmetroplitan areas, farming families, Armed Forces and those in institutions (prisons and mental hospitals).
  2. Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W): all households that meet the following requirements: more than one half of the household's income comes from clerical or wage occupations AND at least one of the household's earners have been employed for at least 37 weeks during the previous 12 months. This group represents approximately 28% of the total U.S. population and is a subset of urban consumers.

Data is collected each month in 75 urban areas in the United States. There are about 5,000 housing units and 22,000 retail establishments sampled. Taxes associated with the purchase of goods or services are included in the price and index. Data is typically collected by personal visits or phone calls by BLS representatives.

(Because data collection excludes rural areas, the BLS CPI is not comparable to the Eurostat HICP.)

The index is calculated by aggregation and using weights for each items in a specific location. The weights represent their importance in the spending for each population group. Localized data is then combined to calulcate a U.S. city average. 

Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices among cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The indexes have a base of 1982-84=100, unless otherwise noted. This means that the average of the monthly index values is 100 over the 36 months in 1982 through 1984.  An index represents the relative change over time since a base period. For example, an index of 120 denotes an increase of 20%, and 75 is a decrease of 25%.

There are various base periods in this data set depending on the type of expenditure and geographical area. They are: Oct1967, Jan1978, Feb1978, Apr1978, Nov1977, Dec1977, 1982-84, Nov1982, Dec1982, Dec1983, Nov1984, Dec1986, Dec1988, Nov1996, Dec1996, Nov1997, Dec1997, Dec2005, Dec2007, Dec2009, and Dec2017.

Geographic coverage is all four census regions, all nine census divisions, 23 MSAs per Census 2010 delineations, and 10 class-sizes (population groups by area).

Seasonally adjusted (SA) data are computed using seasonal factors derived by the X-13ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment method. Factors are updated each February, and are used to revise the previous five years of SA series.

Frequency

  • Prices of fuels are obtained each month in all 75 areas. 
  • Commodity and services prices are reported each month for the three largest CBSA metro geographic areas (Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA, and Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA).
  • National, Regional, and Divisional level data is updated monthly.
  • All other CBSA metros are reported bimonthly (varies even/odd month for each geo). See Table 2: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/additional-resources/geographic-revision-2018.htm

Geographies

Area Name Geo Code Frequency
U.S. City Average IUSA Monthly
     
Northeast Census Region CNER Monthly 
Midwest Census Region CNCR Monthly 
Southern Census Region CSOR Monthly 
Western Census Region CWER Monthly 
     
New England Census Division CNEC Monthly 
Middle Atlantic Census Division CMAC Monthly 
East North Central Census Division CENC Monthly 
West North Central Census Division CWNC Monthly 
South Atlantic Census Division CSAC Monthly 
East South Central Census Division CESC Monthly 
West South Central Census Division CWSC Monthly 
Mountain Census Division CMTN Monthly 
Pacific Census Division CPAC Monthly 
     
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH IUSA_MBOS Bimonthly
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA IUSA_MNEY Monthly
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD IUSA_MPHI Bimonthly
Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI IUSA_MCHI Monthly
Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI IUSA_MDET Bimonthly
Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI IUSA_MMIN Bimonthly
St. Louis, MO-IL IUSA_MSTL Bimonthly
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV IUSA_MWAS Bimonthly
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD IUSA_MBAL Bimonthly 
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL IUSA_MMIA Bimonthly 
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA IUSA_MATL Bimonthly 
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL IUSA_MTAM Bimonthly 
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX IUSA_MDAL Bimonthly 
Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX IUSA_MHOU Bimonthly 
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ IUSA_MPHO Bimonthly 
Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO IUSA_MDEN Bimonthly 
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA IUSA_MLOS Monthly
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA IUSA_MRIV Bimonthly
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA IUSA_MSAF Bimonthly
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA IUSA_MSEA Bimonthly
San Diego-Carlsbad, CA IUSA_MSAN Bimonthly
Urban Hawaii IUSA_MHON Bimonthly
Urban Alaska IUSA_MANC Bimonthly
     
BLS size class B/C CTY_BC Population: 2,500,000 or less
Northeast - Size Class B/C CNER_BC  
Midwest - Size Class B/C CNCR_BC  
South - Size Class B/C CSOR_BC  
West - Size Class B/C CWER_BC  
BLS size class A CTY_A Population: more than 2,500,000
Northeast - Size Class A CNER_A  
Midwest - Size Class A CNCR_A  
South- Size Class A CSOR_A  
West - Size Class A CWER_A  

Changes to method

  • Apr 2021 - Source for health insurance
  • Jun 2021 - Imputation of physicians' services (canceled)
  • July 2021 - Source for gasoline
  • Jan 2022 - Source for new vehicles
  • May 2022 - Cadence for updating weights
  • Sep 2022 - Weighting method for Owner's Equivalent Rent (OER)
  • Jan 2023 - Method for new vehicles
  • Mar 2023 - Method for new vehicles
  • Aug 2023 - Method for health insurance re: retained earnings
  • Nov 2023 - Method for used cars and trucks

Moody's Analytics supplements

January 2022: we compute two special metrics related to the COVID-19 pandemic, viz., the contributions to CPI-U growth of two groups of items: those that are constrained by supply chains, and those associated with pandemic reopening.

June 2022: we calculate the contribution to CPI-U growth for 30 major expenditure items. Series CPIUSCC%%Y.IUSA et seq.

March 2023: we construct "CPI-U for core services excl. shelter" which is the CPI counterpart to the PCE measure commonly cited by Fed chairman Jerome Powell. "Core services" is services less energy services, and core services less shelter is sometimes called "supercore." Our calculation involves:

RID = RI(Services less energy) - RI(Shelter)

CSXS[T] = CSXS[T-1] * (RID[T] / RID[T-1])

CSXS[T0] = 100

Where "RI" is relative importance, "RID" is relative importance difference, and "CSXS" is core services excluding shelter.

April 2023: we construct "CPI-U for core services excl. rent of shelter" using a similar calcuation as above.

June 2023: we back-extend CPIU.IUSA over 1913m1 to 1946m12 by seasonally adjusting XCPIU.IUSA over that interval. The BLS does not report SA data over those years.

Yes, when expenditure weights are updated.

Yes, when seasonal factors are updated. This is performed prior to the release of January data, and applies to the prior five years. The source writes:

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) produces both unadjusted and seasonally adjusted data. Seasonally adjusted data are computed using seasonal factors derived by the X-13ARIMA-SEATS Seasonal Adjustment Method. These factors are updated with the release of January data in February and reflect price movements from the previous calendar year. The new factors are used to revise the previous 5 years of seasonally adjusted data; older seasonally adjusted indexes are considered to be final.

Comparability between subsets

Topline year-over-year calculations are reported in the BLS press releases in not seasonally adjusted terms (XCPIU.IUSA). There may be slight differences between Y/Y figures for SA and NSA series. Because the seasonal factors differ each year, the ratio of index numbers used to compute the change are not necessarily exactly comparable.

Name changes

The Retroactive Series (R-CPI-U-RS) were originally known as the Research Series.

Further reading

At the source:

Methodology changes:

  • 30 Mar 2023, Phillip Thorne - CPI for core services excl. shelter.
  • 14 Apr 2023, Kylie Myers - CPI for core services excl. rent of shelter.
  • 28 Nov 2023, Phillip Thorne - Changes to methodology, Further reading.