Consumer Price Index (CPI)

The consumer price index is an index that is used to adjust for inflation. It is designed to measure the effect of price changes on the cost of a typical basket of goods purchased by urban consumer households. The current base (100) year for the consumer price index is 1982�1984. Inflation is the CPI of the current period less the CPI of the previous period, divided by the CPI of the previous period times 100.