How to Calculate CPI in Microsoft Word
The Consumer Price Index is calculated by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics on a monthly basis. You can create a table in Microsoft Word to approximate the CPI for your situation and calculate your personalized CPI based on similar standards as those of the BLS. Microsoft Word has a table function that allows the insertion of formulas that will calculate your CPI in a form similar to a spreadsheet, but contained within the Word document.
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Instructions
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Launch Microsoft Word and click on the "Insert" tab in the Microsoft Office ribbon. Click "Table and then point to the number of columns and rows you want. The standard CPI figures in the costs of food, clothing, shelter, energy, transportation, medical expenses and goods and services. You will need at least eight rows to include a total at the bottom and then as many columns as you want to track the change in your CPI over time. For example, click the square that is eight rows down and four columns over.
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Type the category for each component of your CPI in the far left column. Each row will contain a different category.
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In the second column, enter the dollar amount spent on each category in the previous month. Enter the dollar amount spent on the category in the current month in the third column.
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Click on the first cell in the fourth column and then click on the "Table Tools: Layout" tab in the ribbon. Click on the "Formula" button on the far right. After the "=" type "(1-C1/B1)*100" (without the quotation marks) and then press "Enter." This will give you the percentage of change from the previous month to the current month.
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Repeat the formula entry for each row, replacing the numbers for the cells with those of the row. For example on the second row the numbers would be "C2" and "B2."
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Click on the cell underneath the last formula you entered. Click on the "Formula" button again and type "AVERAGE(D1:D7)" and then press "Enter." This will give you the average of the price changes to create a customized consumer price index.
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Tips & Warnings
The official CPI is weighted so that the change in the price of food affects the result more than the change in the price of goods and services. This weighted process is beyond the calculations you can perform in Microsoft Word.
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