Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Household-cost index tracking the price of a fixed basket of goods and services; the headline inflation gauge.

Specifications & Metrics

type

Lagging

frequency

Monthly

publisher

National statistical offices (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

Core Principles & Analysis

• BLS began publishing price indexes for 32 cities in 1919; a national U.S. city average followed in 1921, estimated back to 1913.
• Core CPI strips food and energy to reveal the underlying inflation trend.
• It indexes tax brackets, Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, and inflation-protected bonds.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Consumer price index in the United States