1 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S • b ls.g o v

A History of BLS Research 

Consumer Price Indexes and 

The Equivalized Income

Quintile Series

Joshua Klick and Anya Stockburger

Bureau of Labor Statistics

October 26, 2023
2 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

CPI Family of Indexes

Official Indexes

CPI-U CPI-W Chained

CPI-U
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CPI Family of Indexes: comparison

Official Indexes

CPI-U CPI-W Chained

CPI-U

December 2022 12-month change calculated from published indexes:

6.44% 6.25% Final released 

Nov. 2023,

Interim 6.47%
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CPI Family of Indexes: research preview

Official Indexes

CPI-U Chained

CPI-U CPI-W

Research Indexes
5 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Alternate measures 

of consumer price change 1

Use / 

Purpose
6 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Alternate measures 

of consumer price change 2

Use Scope
7 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Alternate measures 

of consumer price change 3

Use Scope Formula
8 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Alternate measures 

of consumer price change 4

Use Scope Formula

Aggregation
9 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Alternate measures 

of consumer price change 5

Use Scope Formula

Aggregation Data 

source(s)
10 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Alternate measures 

of consumer price change 6

Use Scope Formula

Aggregation Data 

source(s)

Limitations
11 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

CPI Family of Indexes: research examples

Official Indexes

CPI-U CPI-W Chained

CPI-U

Research Indexes

R-CPI-U-RS

R-CPI-E

R-HICP

R-COICOP
12 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Retroactive Series (annual average)

Improvements applied 1978 onward and subject to revisions

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

19781980198219841986198819901992199419961998200020022004200620082010201220142016201820202022

R-CPI-U-RS CPI-U
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CPI-E (annual average)

Americans 62 years of age and older 

100

110

120

130

140

150

160

170

180

20002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022

CPI-E CPI-U
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R-HICP & R-COICOP (annual average)

Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices and 

Classification of Individual Consumption Acc. to Purpose

100

105

110

115

120

125

2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

HICP 0 COICOP 0 CPI-U
15 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

CPI Family of Indexes: research income

Official Indexes

CPI-U Chained

CPI-U CPI-W

Research Indexes

R-CPI-U-RS

R-CPI-E

R-HICP

R-COICOP

R-CPI-Income

R-C-CPI-Income
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CPI by Income household summary

Equivalization = � Income

Family size

$43

$32

$41

$0

$40

$80

$120

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Median Equivalized Income 

2021 collection quarter 4 

(in terms of Thousands)

Quintile Urban E W

$17

$16

$15

$0

$10

$20

$30

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Mean expenditure

2021 collection quarter 4

(in terms of Thousands)

Quintile Urban E W
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CPI by Income expenditure summary

Housing Tenure 

2021 collection quarter 4 (percentage)

0 20 40 60

Owner with a

mortgage

Renter

 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Annual 2021 expenditure share (percentage)

0 10 20 30

Rent

Food at home

Motor Fuel

Owner’s equivalent rent

Vehicles and...

Food away from home

Recreation

Q1 Urban Q5
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CPI by Income coverage summary

item-area cells less than $1

(# Items, percentage of 211 X 32 = 7,776)

# Items U Q1 Q5 # Items U Q1Q5

Overall 209 4 20 10 225 0 0 0

Non-sampled 26 25 63 48 26 4 4 4

Priced 183 1 14 5 199 0 0 0

Collected Smoothed
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Annualized Inflation Rate Gap, 

by equivalized income quintile:

CPI Lowe Formula, 

December 2005 – June 2023

2.69 2.63

2.56 2.51

2.42

2.52

2.1

2.3

2.5

2.7

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Annualized inflation rate Urban

Chained-CPI Tornqvist Formula,

December 2005 – June 2022

2.53

2.39

2.29

2.22

2.14

2.27

2.1

2.3

2.5

2.7

Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5

Annualized inflation rate Urban
20 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

Inflation Gap Variation

Lowest income quintile – Highest income quintile

Annual 12-month percent change December 2006 – June 2023

-0.75%

-0.25%

0.25%

0.75%

1.25%

1.75%
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Items contributing to inflation gap (2022)

-10 -5 0 5 10 15 20

Rent primary residence(HA01)

Gasoline (all types)(TB01)

Electricity(HF01)

Utility (piped) gas service(HF02)

Cigarettes(GA01)

Motor vehicle insurance(TE01)

Limited service meals/snacks(FV02)

Juices and drinks(FN03)

Cable & satellite tv/radio(RA02)

Chicken(FF01)

Club membership (RB02)

Child care & nursery school(EB03)

Owners' rent secondary res.(HC09)

Leased cars and trucks(TA03)

Full service meals and snacks(FV01)

Commercial Health Insurance(ME01)

Owners' rent primary residence(HC01)

Lodging away from home(HB02)

Airline fare(TG01)

New vehicles(TA01)

Q1 > Q5

Q1 < Q5
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Limitations

 Upper-level weighted measures of price change:

„ Lower-level price change represents urban population

 Lower-level item heterogeneity:

„ Degree that cohort specific prices/outlets impact 

substitution due to price change 

 National rank distribution:

„ Subnational indexes not feasible because the weights are 

not equivalent across quintiles (within basic areas)
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R-CPI-I and R-C-CPI-I Resources

 Publications: Initial working paper, Spotlight on Statistics

 Home page: https://www.bls.gov/cpi/research-series/r-cpi-i.htm

 Data

• R-CPI-I Dec 2005 - June 2023 (XLSX)

• R-C-CPI-I Dec 2005 - June 2022 (XLSX)

• R-CPI-I relative importance, December 2022 (XLSX)
24 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S TATISTIC S • b ls.g o v b ls.g o v

CPI Family of Indexes: research

Official Indexes

CPI-U Chained

CPI-U CPI-W

Research Indexes

R-CPI-U-RS

R-CPI-E

R-HICP

R-COICOP

R-CPI-Income

R-C-CPI-Income

Household Cost 

Index?

New Tenant Rent 

Index?
Contact Information

25 — U.S. BUREAU O F LABO R STATISTIC S • b ls.g o v

Division of Consumer Price Indexes

www.bls.gov/cpi

Joshua Klick

Economist, Branch of Revision Methodology

klick.Joshua@bls.gov

Anya Stockburger

Chief, Branch of Revision Methodology

stockburger.anya@bls.gov
CPI Research Indexes https://www.bls.gov/cpi/research-series/