Portland's Latest Data on Food & Beverage Prices Show Slight Decline
Where Did Portland's Food & Beverage Prices Head in 2016?
Surprising data from the BLS shows Portland's food and beverage prices trending downward in 2016.
The Index
Today we’re looking at the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food and beverages in Portland-Salem, OR-WA (CMSA). It’s compiled and reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). This most recent data was reported early this month.
The broader Consumer Price Index (CPI) is better known by many as “inflation.” When sources such as the Wall St. Journal, Forbes, etc., report on inflation, it’s the CPI they’re talking about.
This particular slice of the CPI data focuses only on the aggregate prices Oregonians are paying for their food and drink. There are dozens of these subindices of the Price Index published both regionally and nationally. You can browse all of this data yourself at the St. Louis Federal Reserve bank’s comprehensive (and user friendly!) website known as FRED.
By the Numbers
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food and beverages in Portland-Salem decreased to 232.559 in 2016 from 232.769. That’s an annual decline of 0.1%. While that may not sound like much, the average has expanded at a steady rate since around the recession of 2008. And even in 2008, this index managed to increase.
Any decline in an annual period is deflation by definition. The fact that there was a small amount of deflation is perhaps less surprising than the fact that Portland has come to take price increases across the board for granted in recent years. As we covered just last month, Portland’s housing prices have increased at a prodigious rate since the recession. Portland’s housing index even managed to outpace the national average for a some time.
By the numbers, despite the appearance of Portland’s burgeoning cost of trendiness and allegations of gentrification, it appears the area managed to actually decrease aggregate food and drink cost through 2016. Can this trend continue in the face of its growing gourmet food cart, cafe, and high value brewery and distillery culture? It’s unlikely, considering that even during recessions Portland’s CPI has not declined more than one consecutive year in the more recent past.
Portland Food & Beverage Price Index
Disclaimer
This information is solely a representation of publicly available facts intended for educational use only. This is not a solicitation to buy or sell any public or private Security, in any city named in the article or elsewhere. All data obtained from the Bureau of Labor & Statistics. The Consumer Price Index is not to be used as a timing tool to time purchases or sales in the Securities markets.
