Anchorage Daily News

The Anchorage inflation rate was 2.2 percent last year, new federal figures show.

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That change in the consumer price index was the smallest increase since 2002.

It compares with a 3.2 percent inflation rate for Anchorage in 2006, and a national inflation rate of 2.8 percent last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here's the average change in costs for a variety of expenses in Anchorage last year, according to the bureau:

• Housing, up 2.7 percent.

• Energy, including heating and electricity, up 9.9 percent.

• Gasoline, up 6.5 percent.

• Groceries, up 5.4 percent.

• Restaurant food, up 3.6 percent.

• Medical care, up 3 percent.

• Household furnishings, operations, up 1.2 percent.

• Alcoholic beverages, up 1.1 percent.

• Recreation, down 0.1 percent.

• Clothing, down 2.8 percent.

Anchorage is the only location in Alaska for which the bureau calculates inflation. Besides showing how the prices of different expenses change relative to each other, some employers use the inflation rate to determine pay raises.

According to the bureau, a mix of items that cost $100 in Anchorage 25 years ago now costs $181 on average.

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