The consumer price index for the Boston metropolitan area, which includes Worcester, Fitchburg, Leominster and other parts of Central Massachusetts, fell 0.5 percent in the year ending January 2009, the first annual decline since 1954.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which released the data, said the decline was largely due to drops in transportation prices, especially the cost of gasoline, and housing prices. Gas prices fell 42.4 percent, and housing prices dropped 1.2.
Those declines were partially offset by a 5.7 percent increase in food and beverage prices, as well as slightly smaller hikes in education and medical costs.
Over the same 12 months, the U.S. city average CPU held steady while the Northeast region number rose 0.5 percent.
