Economics & Demographics Program

Cost of Living — Inflation — Consumer Price Index

There is no government data available on the cost of living in Maine. You can compare the cost of living in Portland, Maine or Bangor, Maine with several hundred other American cities at http://www.homefair.com, but we cannot vouch for the accuracy of this data.

There is also no annual or monthly inflation measure specific to Maine, but the US CPI-u (Consumer Price Index, for urban consumers) is widely used in Maine rental, wage, and price contracts. Recent monthly data will be found at this site: http://146.142.4.24/labjava/outside.jsp?survey=cu (select "US City Avg.", All Items", Seasonally Adjusted.")

NOTE: Do not add percent change values to calculate the inflation rate over a period of years. Instead, calculate the percentage change between the index values for those years. Example, to calculate the inflation rate between 1990 and 2000, use this formula: (172.3 - 130.7) / 130.76 = 0.318 or 31.8%.

Annual Average CPI

Complete up to date CPI is located at:
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/cpi/cpiai.txt

Index.
(1982-84 avg=100)

Year CPI-U Yr Ave. % Chng Yr/Yr

1990
130.7 5.4%

1991
136.2 4.2%

1992
140.3 3.0%

1993
144.5 3.0%

1994
148.2 2.6%

1995
152.4 2.8%

1996
156.9 3.0%

1997
160.5 2.3%

1998
163.0 1.6%

1999
166.6 2.2%

2000
172.3 2.8%

2001
177.1 2.8%

2002
179.9 1.6%

2003
184.0 2.3%

2004
188.9 2.7%

2005 195.3 3.4%

2006 201.6 3.2%

2007 207.342 2.8%

2008 215.303 3.8%