The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) is a complex structure based on the collection of approximately 94,000 price and 8,000 rental home estimates each month. The most cited inflation measure in the United States, the CPI-U is designed to measure changes in the prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households, which make up more than 90 percent of the U.S. population. I am. Various expenditure items are divided into over 200 categories, grouped into eight main groups, and weighted based on their actual share in consumer spending. That means increases in rent and food prices will have a larger impact on overall CPI than increases in smaller spending categories like clothing.
The eight main spending groups are food and beverages, housing, clothing, transportation, health care, recreation, education, communications, and other goods and services. With a relative importance of 44.6%, housing (which includes rent and homeowner rent equivalents, but also utilities and bedroom furniture) is by far the largest expenditure category in the CPI-U, with transportation and This is followed by expenses (new cars, used cars, gas, automobiles, etc.). airfare) and food and drinks (really self-explanatory). Together, these three categories account for more than 75% of his CPI-U in September 2023, explaining why rising prices for shelter, gasoline, and food have a large impact on overall inflation. It has been.
