CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted, United States

CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted, is the consumer price index for all urban consumers exactly as the Bureau of Labor Statistics first publishes it, around the middle of the month after the prices were collected. The series code is CUUR0000SA0 and the base is the 1982 to 1984 average, set to 100.

It is the version that carries money. The official 12-month inflation rate is calculated from this index, Treasury inflation-protected securities are adjusted with it, and leases, wage agreements and other contracts that track inflation usually name it, because once published it is not revised. A contract written against it today will refer to the same number years from now.

The pitfall is reading month-to-month changes. The unadjusted index rises and falls with the seasons, so a drop between two months can be nothing more than January sales or lower winter fuel prices. For monthly momentum, use the seasonally adjusted CPI-U page; for comparing a month with the same month a year earlier, or for anything written into a contract, use this one. The two indexes end each year close together, since seasonal adjustment moves prices between months without changing the yearly average much.

CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted is at its highest since the series starts in January 2006. Within ten years, CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted beats 100% of readings.

CPI-U all items, not seasonally adjusted (the basis of the official 12-month change).

BLS publishes CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted monthly in CPI, in index (1982-84 = 100) and is not seasonally adjusted. Code: CUUR0000SA0. Method for CPI-U, all items, not seasonally adjusted.