| The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by consumers for a market basket of goods and services. In the US the statistic we refer to as the CPI is actually the CPI-U. It is a calculation of all urban wage earners and consumers and represents about 87% of the total US population. Not included in the CPI-U are the spending patterns of people living in rural areas, farms, the Armed Forces, and those in prisons or mental hospitals.
The Consumer Price Index is often misused as a cost-of-living index; it is not. A cost-of-living index takes into account the necessary spending required to reach a specified standard of living. This might include safety, education, health, water quality, crime, etc. These factors are not as easily defined or measured.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures price changes for about 200 categories of items, including government user-fees and sales taxes, that fall into 8 major groups:
- Food and Beverages
- Housing
- Apparel
- Transportation
- Medical Care
- Recreation
- Education and Communication
- Other Goods and Services
The Consumer Price Index is only one government statistic used to measure inflation. There is also the Producer Price Index, the Employment Cost Index and the Gross National Product Deflator. But the CPI-U is the best measurement for translating retail sales and hourly or weekly earnings into real or inflation-free dollars.
*** Historical Data ***
Change
Annual (Rate of
Year Average Inflation)
1913 9.9 --
1914 10.0 1.0
1915 10.1 1.0
1916 10.9 7.9
1917 12.8 17.4
1918 15.1 18.0
1919 17.3 14.6
1920 20.0 15.6
1921 17.9 -10.5
1922 16.8 -6.1
1923 17.1 1.8
1924 17.1 0.0
1925 17.5 2.3
1926 17.7 1.1
1927 17.4 -1.7
1928 17.1 -1.7
1929 17.1 0.0
1930 16.7 -2.3
1931 15.2 -9.0
1932 13.7 -9.9
1933 13.0 -5.1
1934 13.4 3.1
1935 13.7 2.2
1936 13.9 1.5
1937 14.4 3.6
1938 14.1 -2.1
1939 13.9 -1.4
1940 14.0 0.7
1941 14.7 5.0
1942 16.3 10.9
1943 17.3 6.1
1944 17.6 1.7
1945 18.0 2.3
1946 19.5 8.3
1947 22.3 14.4
1948 24.1 8.1
1949 23.8 -1.2
1950 24.1 1.3
1951 26.0 7.9
1952 26.5 1.9
1953 26.7 0.8
1954 26.9 0.7
1955 26.8 -0.4
1956 27.2 1.5
1957 28.1 3.3
1958 28.9 2.8
1959 29.1 0.7
1960 29.6 1.7
1961 29.9 1.0
1962 30.2 1.0
1963 30.6 1.3
1964 31.0 1.3
1965 31.5 1.6
1966 32.4 2.9
1967 33.4 3.1
1968 34.8 4.2
1969 36.7 5.5
1970 38.8 5.7
1971 40.5 4.4
1972 41.8 3.2
1973 44.4 6.2
1974 49.3 11.0
1975 53.8 9.1
1976 56.9 5.8
1977 60.6 6.5
1978 65.2 7.6
1979 72.6 11.3
1980 82.4 13.5
1981 90.9 10.3
1982 96.5 6.2
1983 99.6 3.2
1984 103.9 4.3
1985 107.6 3.6
1986 109.6 1.9
1987 113.6 3.6
1988 118.3 4.1
1989 124.0 4.8
1990 130.7 5.4
1991 136.2 4.2
1992 140.3 3.0
1993 144.5 3.0
1994 148.2 2.6
1995 152.4 2.8
1996 156.9 2.9
1997 160.5 2.3
1998 163.0 1.6
1999 166.6 2.2
2000 172.2 3.4
Base year is chained;
1982-1984 = 100
http://minneapolisfed.org/economy/calc/hist1913.html
http://stats.bls.gov/cpihome.htm
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