The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of goods and services. The CPI measures inflation as experienced by consumers in their day-to-day living expenses. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculates the CPI as a weighted average of prices of a basket of goods and services, including food, housing, clothing, transportation, medical care, and recreation. The CPI is the most widely used measure of inflation and is used by policymakers, financial markets, businesses, and consumers to make informed economic decisions. The CPI is also used as a deflator for other economic indicators, including retail sales and hourly/weekly earnings, to separate fundamental change from that reflecting change in prices. The CPI is often used to adjust consumers income payments, to adjust income eligibility levels for government assistance, and to automatically provide cost-of-living wage adjustments to millions of American workers.