The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, after rising 0.4 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months,…
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics6 min read
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The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in January, after rising 0.4 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 3.0 percent before seasonal adjustment.
The index for shelter rose 0.4 percent in January, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the monthly all items increase. The energy index rose 1.1 percent over the month, as the gasoline index increased 1.8 percent. The index for food also increased in January, rising 0.4 percent as the index for food at home rose 0.5 percent and the index for food away from home increased 0.2 percent.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent in January. Indexes that increased over the month include motor vehicle insurance, recreation, used cars and trucks, medical care, communication, and airline fares. The indexes for apparel, personal care, and household furnishings and operations were among the few major indexes that decreased in January.
The all items index rose 3.0 percent for the 12 months ending January, after rising 2.9 percent over the 12 months ending December. The all items less food and energy index rose 3.3 percent over the last 12 months. The energy index increased 1.0 percent for the 12 months ending January. The food index increased 2.5 percent over the last year.
Revised Seasonal Adjustment Factors and Publication Changes
In accordance with annual practice, relative importance values have been updated, and seasonal adjustment factors were recalculated to reflect price movements from the just-completed calendar year. This process results in revisions to seasonally adjusted indexes for the previous 5 years. Revised seasonal adjustment factors and end of year files are available at www.bls.gov/web/cpi.supp.toc.htm.
Effective with this release, several indexes and average price series were discontinued, and one index title was changed. More information is available on the CPI discontinued series page at www.bls.gov/cpi/additional-resources/discontinued-series.htm and the CPI title changes page at www.bls.gov/cpi/additional-resources/series-title-changes.htm.
Food
The index for food increased 0.4 percent in January. The food at home index rose 0.5 percent over the month as four of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased. The index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs rose 1.9 percent over the month, as the index for eggs increased 15.2 percent. This was the largest increase in the eggs index since June 2015 and it accounted for about two thirds of the total monthly food at home increase. The index for other food at home rose 0.3 percent in January and the index for nonalcoholic beverages increased 0.9 percent. The dairy and related products index rose 0.3 percent over the month.
The index for fruits and vegetables fell 0.5 percent in January, as the index for tomatoes declined 2.0 percent and the index for other fresh vegetables fell 2.6 percent. The cereals and bakery products index decreased 0.4 percent over the month as the breakfast cereal index fell 3.3 percent.
The food away from home index rose 0.2 percent in January. The index for limited service meals rose 0.3 percent over the month and the index for full service meals rose 0.1 percent.
The index for food at home rose 1.9 percent over the last 12 months. The meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index rose 6.1 percent over the last 12 months as the eggs index increased 53.0 percent. The index for nonalcoholic beverages increased 2.2 percent over the same period, while the index for other food at home rose 0.8 percent and the index for dairy and related products increased 1.2 percent. The cereals and bakery products index increased 0.4 percent over the year and the fruits and vegetables index rose 0.3 percent over the same period.
The food away from home index rose 3.4 percent over the last year. The index for limited service meals and the index for full service meals both rose 3.3 percent over the same period.
Energy
The energy index increased 1.1 percent in January. The gasoline index increased 1.8 percent over the month. (Before seasonal adjustment, gasoline prices also increased 1.8 percent in January.) The index for natural gas rose 1.8 percent over the month while the index for electricity was unchanged in January.
The energy index increased 1.0 percent over the past 12 months. The gasoline index fell 0.2 percent over this 12-month span and the fuel oil index fell 5.3 percent over that period. In contrast, the index for electricity increased 1.9 percent over the last 12 months and the index for natural gas rose 4.9 percent.
All items less food and energy
The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent in January. The shelter index increased 0.4 percent over the month. The index for owners' equivalent rent rose 0.3 percent in January, as did the index for rent. The lodging away from home index increased 1.4 percent in January.
The medical care index increased 0.2 percent over the month. The index for prescription drugs increased 2.5 percent in January and the index for hospital services rose 0.9 percent over the month. The physicians' services index increased 0.1 percent in January.
The motor vehicle insurance index rose 2.0 percent in January. The index for recreation rose 1.0 percent over the month and the index for used cars and trucks increased 2.2 percent. Other indexes that increased in January include communication, airline fares, and education. In contrast, the index for apparel fell 1.4 percent in January. The indexes for personal care and household furnishings and operations also declined over the month. The new vehicles index was unchanged in January.
The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.3 percent over the past 12 months. The shelter index increased 4.4 percent over the last year, the smallest 12-month increase since January 2022. Other indexes with notable increases over the last year include motor vehicle insurance (+11.8 percent), medical care (+2.6 percent), education (+3.8 percent), and recreation (+1.6 percent).
Not seasonally adjusted CPI measures
The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 3.0 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 317.671 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.7 percent prior to seasonal adjustment.
The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) increased 3.0 percent over the last 12 months to an index level of 311.172 (1982-84=100). For the month, the index increased 0.7 percent prior to seasonal adjustment.
The Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U) increased 2.8 percent over the last 12 months. For the month, the index increased 0.6 percent on a not seasonally adjusted basis. Please note that the indexes for the past 10 to 12 months are subject to revision.
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MortgageRates.news analysis · Historical context
The mortgage market around this release
This original analysis is separate from the source article. It compares observed benchmarks around ; historical averages and yields are not current mortgage offers.
Read consumer inflation on a consistent basis
The Consumer Price Index measures changes in prices paid by urban consumers for a basket of goods and services. Check the index, reference month and seasonal adjustment before comparing figures. A monthly change and a twelve-month change describe different periods; the all-items index and the measure excluding food and energy cover different baskets. Consumer inflation informs the wider policy discussion, but the benchmark comparison below does not isolate this release from other information arriving during the month. BLS Consumer Price Index.
Nearest published observation on or before each target date
Calendar references, not an intraday reaction. A same-day market observation may have been published after a morning release. These figures do not show what was known at its exact publication time. One basis point (bp) is 0.01 percentage point; changes use the actual dated observations shown.
Dots show published observations only. Missing dates remain blank, with no interpolation. The series have different publication schedules and measure different markets.
What that benchmark difference would mean for a $300,000 loan
At the publication reference$1,973.79/month
6.89% · Feb 6, 2025
At the later reference$1,925.89/month
6.65% · Mar 13, 2025
The illustrative principal-and-interest payment is $47.90 lower per month. This holds the loan amount and term constant to show the arithmetic effect of the benchmark difference.
Assumptions: two separate hypothetical $300,000 loans, each fully amortizing over 30 years with 360 monthly payments and its stated fixed interest rate. Excludes points, lender fees, taxes, insurance, association charges and other costs. PMMS is a national average, not an APR or a personalized rate offer. These are not two payments on one existing loan.
Sources, historical coverage and calculation limits
Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®: available observations from Apr 2, 1971 through Nov 5, 2026. Cached history snapshot. History retrieved or verified Nov 11, 2026.
U.S. Department of the Treasury: available observations from Jan 4, 2016 through Nov 10, 2026. Cached history snapshot. History retrieved or verified Nov 11, 2026.
The 30-day comparisons use calendar days. Each cell selects the last published observation on or before its target; no rates are synthesized for missing dates. Gaps greater than seven days for daily Treasury data or fourteen days for weekly mortgage data are marked unavailable. Forward comparisons require the date to have arrived and source coverage to extend through it.
Historical files may contain revisions and do not reconstruct precisely what every market participant knew at the time. Freddie Mac changed its PMMS collection methodology in November 2022. Cross-period comparisons should account for that change. These windows include other news and cannot establish causation or forecast the next rate move.