Consumer Price Index (CPI) for Kansas City

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., metropolitan area increased 4.3 percent from the second half of 2010 to the second half of 2011, the largest over-the-year advance since 1996, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that, though the increase was broad based, costs for motor fuel, food, and shelter had the largest upward impacts on the overall index. The index for energy jumped 16.1 percent, food prices increased 7.2 percent, and the index for all items less food and energy was up 2.5 percent over the period.

Food

Food prices rose 7.2 percent from the second half of 2010 to the second half of 2011, the fourth largest advance since semi-annual publication of the index began in the 1980’s. Within the food index, costs for food at home advanced 7.1 percent and prices for food away from home were up 6.4 percent. The rate of increase for both components slowed during the latter half of the period.

Energy

The energy index, which includes motor fuel and household fuels, advanced 16.1 percent from the second half of 2010 to the second half of 2011. A 25.6-percent jump in motor fuel prices, all of which occurred in the first half of the year, was responsible for nearly all of the increase in the energy component. Household energy costs rose 4.4 percent from the second half of 2010. Electricity prices advanced 7.5 percent while utility (piped) gas service costs declined 4.1 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.5 percent from the second half of 2010 to the second half of 2011. Among the components of the index that contributed to the increase were shelter (2.4 percent), recreation (4.4 percent), and medical care (3.4 percent).

The Kansas City CPI-U stood at 215.140 for the second half of 2011. This means that a market basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in 1982-84 cost $215.14 in the second half of 2011. Because metropolitan area CPI data are not adjusted for seasonal price variation, consumers and businesses should be cautious in drawing conclusions about long-term retail price trends from short-term changes in the metropolitan area indexes.

CPI-W

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., metropolitan area for the second half of 2011 was 207.756. The CPI-W increased 4.9 percent from the second half of 2010 to the second half of 2011.

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 87 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 32 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 25,000 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 areas; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas; and Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri.

For personal assistance or further information on Consumer Price Indexes, as well as other Bureau products, contact the Mountain-Plains Information Office at (816) 285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

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Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; TDD message referral phone number (Federal Relay Service): 1-800-877-8339.
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U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics | Mountain-Plains Information Office, Two Pershing Square Building Suite 1190, 2300 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64108

www.bls.gov/ro7 | Telephone: 1-816-285-7000 | Contact Mountain-Plains (R07)