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  • These data are released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The 1st half of 2012 will be published on this site by the end of August 2012
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Consumer Price Index - Calculating Index Changes

 
Movements of the indexes from one period to another are usually expressed as percent changes rather than changes in index points because index point changes are affected by the level of the index in relation to its base period while percent changes are not. This example illustrates the computation of index points and percent changes.
 
Step 1:
Calculating the index point change:
CPI- Anchorage 2012
Less CPI for previous period- Anchorage 2011
205.916
-201.427
Equals index point change 4.489

Step 2:
Calculating the percent change:
Index point difference Divided by the previous index (Anchorage 2011) 4.489 / 201.427
= 0.0222859
Results multiplied by 100
Percent change (Anchorage CPI 2012)
0.022285 * 100 = 2.22859
2.2 (rounded 2.22859)