CPI-U: Food away from home (U.S., not seasonally adjusted)

## What this measures

The price index for food away from home in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted (1982–84 = 100). It is the level BLS uses for the 12-month changes in its monthly news release. January 1953 to September 2026 in Palanor.

## Why it matters

Food is the price people see most often. Grocery categories move with farm, feed and fuel costs, weather and disease (eggs, beef), and trade policy.

## How to read it

Read the 12-month % change, not the level: Palanor's CPI charts take it from this index. In September 2026 the index stood 3.5% above a year earlier. The not-seasonally-adjusted index is the right one for 12-month changes; month-to-month moves need the seasonally adjusted series (the fred_cpi_* rows).

## What it does not say

A price index, not a cost of living: it tracks a fixed basket re-weighted every year, so it does not follow every substitution households make. Shelter is measured from rents (owners’ equivalent rent), not house prices. BLS published no October 2025 index (the federal shutdown), so changes that would start or end in that month are missing.

## Source

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted, series CUUR0000SEFV: https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/CUUR0000SEFV. Public domain ("everything that we publish ... is in the public domain"). Read by /api/cron/bls-sync and, on CPI release days, /api/cron/studio-cpi-desk; history from the BLS flat files (download.bls.gov/pub/time.series/cu).