While the rest of the U.S. was staring down a the first uptick in inflation in 13 months, the Boston area saw a slight decrease in the price of most consumer goods, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On Thursday, BLS released both its national and regional statistics for July, which showed that a streak of prices dropping more than a year long ended in July when the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2% nationally from the previous month, while the index saw a further decline in and around Boston.
“Consumer prices in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton area inched down 0.1% for the two months ending in July. The downturn was attributed to lower prices for household energy,” the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Northeast Region Information Office announced.
According to BLS, the bulk of the decrease in Boston’s CPI can be attributed to a decline in the energy indexes, which fell by more than 15.2% over last year and 4.6% since May.
Energy price drops, according to the Bureau, are “driven by an 8.7% decline in household energy prices.”
Not every type of consumer energy saw a decrease in price, however.
“In contrast, gasoline prices increased 2.8%,” BLS said.
Nationally, for the year ending in July, the all items index increased 3.2 percent before seasonal adjustment, while the all items index for the Boston area came in just 2.8% higher. Housing prices accounted for the mass of increases both in the Bay State and across the nation.
“The index for shelter was by far the largest contributor to the monthly all items increase, accounting for over 90 percent of the increase, with the index for motor vehicle insurance also contributing. The food index increased 0.2 percent in July after increasing 0.1 percent the previous month. The index for food at home increased 0.3 percent over the month while the index for food away from home rose 0.2 percent in July,” their July report reads, in part.
The CPI measures the change in prices that consumers pay for goods and services and is measured in two categories, all urban consumers and urban wage earners and clerical workers. The all urban consumers index covers people living near a city with a population over 10,000 and represents more than 90% of the U.S. population.
Boston ranks third in the U.S. among cities with the least inflation concerns, according to a study by WalletHub.
U.S. inflation fell to the lowest level seen in more than two years in June.