West region inflation calculator: CPI-U since 1966

Nine metros in two divisions

In the Mountain division the BLS publishes Phoenix, Denver. In the Pacific division it publishes Los Angeles, San Francisco, Riverside, Seattle, San Diego, Urban Hawaii, Urban Alaska. The Pacific list includes two areas that are not single metros. Anchorage represents all the urban areas of Alaska and Honolulu those of Hawaii; the BLS Handbook says their location makes price change in their markets "geographically isolated from that in other markets", so each is its own stratum (BLS Handbook, design). Everything else the BLS samples in the West, from small metros to micropolitan towns, feeds the regional figure without a series of its own.

Different bases inside one region

The West mixes base periods. The region and most of its metros use 1982-84=100, but Phoenix uses December 2001=100 and Riverside uses December 2017=100. In the data this site carries, Phoenix starts in December 2017 and Riverside starts in December 2017, so an older amount there has to go through the region or the nation. An index level is meaningful only against another level on the same base: compare percent changes, not raw levels, when you set two Western areas side by side.

Which index for a Western contract

The BLS leaves the choice to the parties but gives a clear hint: local indexes are "subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error", and "we urge users to consider adopting the national or regional CPIs for use in escalator clauses" (BLS questions and answers). For a Western town outside the listed metros, the West index (series CUUR0400SA0) is the regional option, published every month.

Groceries, shelter and the record years

Over the latest 12 months, food at home in the West moved +2.4 %, a rate higher than the national +1.8 %. Shelter was +3.0 % and core prices +2.4 %. Further back, 1980 was the West's fastest year at 14.7 %, the highest of the four regions that year. In 2022 the West averaged 8.0 %, against 8.0 % for the nation.

October 2025

The region has no October 2025 index, like every area, and its 2025 annual average uses 11 months. Western metros on the odd-month schedule never had an October slot, so for them nothing was lost; the even-month ones lost October and their December two-month change. The October 2025 page has the details.