Publications

• CPI Detailed Reports
• BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index (HTML) (PDF)
• Note on Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers

Reports

• CPI research series using current methods
• Reconciliation Between the CPI and PCE Price Index. The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) undertook a joint project to detail and quantify the differences between the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Chain-type Price Index. A paper summarizing these differences can be found on the BEA website at http://www.bea.gov/papers/pdf/cpi_pce.pdf. The latest reconciliation tables can be found at http://www.bea.gov/national/nipaweb/nipa_underlying/pce-cpi.asp.
• Treatment of Owner-Occupied Housing in the CPI - Paper presented to the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC) on December 9, 2005 (PDF)
• Updating the Housing Age-Bias Regression model in the Consumer Price Index (PDF)
• NEW Guidelines for Quality Adjustment of New Vehicle Prices (PDF)
• NEW Experimental Consumer Price Index for Americans 62 years of Age and Older, 1982-2007 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2003 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2004 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2005 (PDF)
• Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2006 (PDF)
• NEW Response Rates for the Consumer Price Indexes, 2007 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2003 - December 2003 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2004 - December 2004 (PDF)
• Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2005 - December 2005 (PDF)
• NEW Variance Estimates for Changes in the Consumer Price Index, January 2007 - December 2007 (PDF)
• Consumer Price Index Users Survey (PDF 262K)
• Hedonic Quality Adjustment in the U.S. CPI for:

• Appliances: Clothes Dryers, Microwave Ovens, Refrigerators
• Audio and Video Equipment: Camcorders, Consumer Audio Products Component, DVD Players, VCRs
• College Textbooks

Recent Monthly Labor Review articles related to the Consumer Price Index

• Addressing misconceptions about the Consumer Price Index
• Price measures of new vehicles: a comparison
• A hedonic model for Internet access service in the Consumer Price Index
• Price measurement in the United States: A decade after the Boskin Report
• Comparing U.S. and European inflation: the CPI and the HICP
• The CE and the PCE: a comparison
• Interarea price levels: an experimental methodology
• The effects of rounding on the Consumer Price Index
• Item replacement and quality change in apparel price indexes

CPI Fact Sheets

• Understanding the Consumer Price Index: Answers to Some Questions
• How BLS Measures Changes in Consumer Prices
• Guide to Available CPI Data (PDF 15K)
• How to Obtain CPI Information
• How to Use the Consumer Price Index for Escalation (PDF 12K)
• The Consumer Price Index--Why the Published Averages Don't Always Match An Individual's Inflation Experience (PDF 136KB)
• Consumer Price Indexes for Rent and Rental Equivalence

How BLS Measures Price Change in the Consumer Price Index for:

• Airline Fares
• Cable Television
• Household Fuels
• Leased Cars
• Lodging Away from Home
• Medical Care
• Motor Fuels
• Motor Vehicle Insurance
• New Vehicles
• Personal Computers and Peripheral Equipment
• Telephone Services, Cellular
• Telephone Services, Local
• Telephone Services, Long Distance
• Tuition and Fees, College
• Tuition and Fees, Elementary and High School
• Used Cars and Trucks