Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Prepared by the Capital District Regional Planning Commission

Consumer Price Index

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a pre-determined selection of consumer goods and services including:

  • Apparel and Upkeep
  • Education and Communication
  • Food and Beverages
  • Housing
  • Transportation
  • Medical Care
  • Recreation
  • Other Goods and Services

The CPI affects nearly all Americans because of the many ways it is used. The CPI is often used as:

  • An economic indicator.
  • A deflator of other economic series.
  • A means of adjusting dollar values.

Producer Price Index

The Producer Price Index, or PPI, measures the average change over time in the selling prices received by domestic producers for their output. Prices included in the PPI are based on the first commercial transaction for many products and for some services. Effective with the January 2014 Producer Price Index (PPI) data release in February 2014, BLS transitioned from the Stage of Processing (SOP) to the Final Demand-Intermediate Demand (FD-ID) aggregation system.  Read more on the FD-ID transition.  Detailed Producer Price Index data is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 

→ Recent Updates on Consumer and Producer Price Indexes