The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Chicago-Gary-Kenosha area increased 0.5 percent in May, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that energy prices rose 4.9 percent and food prices edged down 0.1 percent. The all items less food and energy category was up a slight 0.1 percent over the month. Among the indexes within the all items less food and energy category, prices were higher for recreation, shelter, and apparel and lower for medical care. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the Chicago area all items CPI-U increased 1.5 percent. The energy index increased 3.8 percent since last May, primarily due to rising prices for utility (piped) gas service. The all items less food and energy index was 1.5 percent higher over the year.

Food

Food prices were 0.1 percent lower in May after decreasing 0.9 percent in April. Of the two components within the food index, prices for food at home (groceries) edged down 0.1 percent and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) edged up 0.1 percent over the month. Within the food at home group, prices were lower for snacks, eggs, and bacon, breakfast sausage, and related products. Prices were higher for ham, apples, and bananas.

From May 2012 to May 2013, the food index increased 0.2 percent. In the previous 12-month period ended May 2012, food prices in the Chicago area were 3.2 percent higher.

Energy

The energy index rose 4.9 percent in May following a 1.1-percent decrease in April. Within the energy category, prices for gasoline rose 6.5 percent and utility (piped) gas service prices increased 5.3 percent over the month. Prices for electricity were unchanged during the same period..

Overall energy prices were 3.8 percent higher from May 2012 to May 2013. The index for utility (piped) gas service rose 49.8 percent and the index for gasoline increased 1.5 percent over the year. Prices for electricity were down 14.3 percent compared to a year ago.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased a slight 0.1 percent in May. Among the index’s components, prices were higher for recreation (1.1 percent), apparel (0.8 percent), and shelter (0.1 percent). Prices were lower for medical care (-0.2 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.5 percent. Shelter was the largest contributor, rising 1.9 percent from May 2012 to May 2013. Prices for other goods and services increased 6.7 percent and medical care rose 2.7 percent over the same period.

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The June 2013 Consumer Price Index for Chicago is scheduled to be released on July 16, 2013, at 7:30 a.m. (CT).

Table A. Percent Changes in the CPI-U, Chicago-Gary-Kenosha (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure Category	Percent changes from preceding month							12 mo. ended May '13
	2012		2013
	Nov.	Dec.	Jan.	Feb.	Mar.	Apr.	May
All items	-0.4	-0.3	0.2	1.1	-0.1	0.0	0.5	1.5
Food & beverages	0.5	0.5	0.5	-0.7	0.2	-0.9	-0.1	0.2
Food	0.6	0.4	0.5	-0.8	0.3	-0.9	-0.1	0.2
Housing	0.2	-0.3	0.4	0.6	-0.3	0.1	0.3	2.3
Apparel	-3.4	-3.6	-0.7	6.5	-4.6	2.7	0.8	1.1
Transportation	-2.1	-0.8	-1.2	4.5	0.6	0.3	1.9	0.4
Medical care	-0.1	0.2	1.0	0.2	-0.1	0.1	-0.2	2.7
Recreation	-1.2	1.1	1.0	-0.4	-0.7	0.1	1.1	0.6
Education & communication	0.5	-0.4	0.7	-0.1	-0.1	-0.4	-0.1	0.2
Other goods & services	0.4	0.0	-1.4	0.0	2.5	0.5	-0.3	6.7
Special Indexes
Energy	-4.1	-2.0	-1.7	8.6	-0.7	-1.1	4.9	3.8
All items less food & energy	-0.1	-0.2	0.3	0.6	-0.1	0.4	0.1	1.5

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 88 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

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 Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, Ill.-Ind.-Wis. consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Lake and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods

Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013	May 2013	May 2012	Mar. 2013	Apr. 2013
Expenditure category
All items	224.433	224.522	225.645	1.5	0.5	0.5
All items (1967=100)	670.512	670.777	674.134	-	-	-
Food and beverages	230.757	228.778	228.642	0.2	-0.9	-0.1
Food	230.003	227.903	227.771	0.2	-1.0	-0.1
Food at home	230.349	227.713	227.422	-1.0	-1.3	-0.1
Food away from home	224.023	222.862	222.998	2.2	-0.5	0.1
Alcoholic beverages	238.274	238.618	238.395	0.1	0.1	-0.1
Housing	221.087	221.263	221.921	2.3	0.4	0.3
Shelter	273.668	274.282	274.526	1.9	0.3	0.1
Rent of primary residence (1)	285.949	286.696	287.189	2.3	0.4	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	280.076	280.914	280.708	2.1	0.2	-0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	280.076	280.914	280.708	2.1	0.2	-0.1
Fuels and utilities	181.314	177.196	181.082	7.4	-0.1	2.2
Household energy	152.962	148.151	151.763	7.9	-0.8	2.4
Energy services (1)	155.662	150.689	154.433	8.1	-0.8	2.5
Electricity (1)	150.353	133.050	132.999	-14.3	-11.5	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	148.852	161.029	169.575	49.8	13.9	5.3
Household furnishings and operations	98.048	99.844	99.612	-0.2	1.6	-0.2
Apparel	92.159	94.628	95.431	1.1	3.6	0.8
Transportation	206.209	206.755	210.583	0.4	2.1	1.9
Private transportation	203.253	203.561	207.678	0.3	2.2	2.0
Motor fuel	342.611	343.219	365.273	1.5	6.6	6.4
Gasoline (all types)	339.502	340.323	362.599	1.5	6.8	6.5
Gasoline, unleaded regular (3)	334.371	335.283	357.917	1.0	7.0	6.8
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade (3) (4)	354.863	354.912	376.475	2.3	6.1	6.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium (3)	325.093	326.082	345.447	3.3	6.3	5.9
Medical care	442.477	443.062	442.062	2.7	-0.1	-0.2
Recreation (5)	109.897	109.998	111.220	0.6	1.2	1.1
Education and communication (5)	138.556	137.996	137.910	0.2	-0.5	-0.1
Other goods and services	377.853	379.712	378.736	6.7	0.2	-0.3
Commodity and service group
All items	224.433	224.522	225.645	1.5	0.5	0.5
Commodities	174.750	174.832	176.159	0.3	0.8	0.8
Commodities less food & beverages	144.458	145.359	147.210	0.4	1.9	1.3
Nondurables less food & beverages	194.946	196.543	201.435	1.8	3.3	2.5
Durables	96.546	96.836	96.109	-1.8	-0.5	-0.8
Services	271.365	271.459	272.372	2.3	0.4	0.3
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	215.081	215.151	216.346	1.4	0.6	0.6
All items less shelter	208.181	208.077	209.534	1.3	0.6	0.7
Commodities less food	148.351	149.254	151.088	0.4	1.8	1.2
Nondurables	214.755	214.694	217.295	1.0	1.2	1.2
Nondurables less food	198.726	200.286	205.011	1.7	3.2	2.4
Services less rent of shelter (2)	283.259	282.751	284.484	2.7	0.4	0.6
Services less medical care services	258.267	258.349	259.309	2.2	0.4	0.4
Energy	226.793	224.209	235.145	3.8	3.7	4.9
All items less energy	225.835	226.196	226.330	1.3	0.2	0.1
All items less food and energy	225.891	226.707	226.890	1.5	0.4	0.1
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Index is on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (5) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
- Data not available NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date.

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