U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Consumer Price Index

Note on the Chained Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U)

The Bureau of Labor Statistics first began publishing the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers in August 2002. Designated the C-CPI-U, the index supplements the existing indexes already produced by the BLS: the CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W).

Explanatory materials

• A Questions and Answers page about the C-CPI-U.
• A short technical note about the C-CPI-U.
• A short methodological note (in PDF format), with formulas.
• Introducing the Chained Consumer Price Index (in PDF format), a paper by Robert Cage, John Greenlees and Patrick Jackman presented at the Seventh Meeting of the International Working Group on Price Indices, Paris, France, May 2003.

Data

• These tables are available each month in the Consumer Price Index Detailed Report as tables 1C, 24C and 26C.

For more information on the C-CPI-U, write to:

Bureau of Labor Statistics
Division of Consumer Prices and Price Indexes
2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Room 3130
Washington, DC 20212

Or contact Rob Cage either by telephone at (202) 691-6959 or by electronic mail at Cage.Rob@bls.gov.