=+16The Consumer Price Index (CPI) represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households.

User fees (such as water and sewer service) and sales and excise taxes paid by the consumer are also included. Income taxes and investment items (such as stocks, bonds, and life insurance) are not included. Most of the specific CPI indexes have a 1982–1984 reference base. That is, the average index level (representing the average price level) is set with the 36-month period covering the years 1982, 1983, and 1984 equal to 100 and then measures changes in relation to that figure. An index of 110, for example, means there has been a 10-percent increase in price since the reference period. See www.bls.gov/cpi for more information.

Section 19.2