Prices in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), decreased 0.1 percent for the 2 months ending in July 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that the July decline was due in large part to falling prices for recreation and lodging away from home. The all items less food and energy index, which includes the forementioned categories, contributed the most to the decrease as it fell 0.2 percent. Declining prices in the food index, down 0.3 percent, also contributed to the overall index decrease. Tempering the fall was the energy index, up 2.4 percent, continuing the trend of increases since March’s 3.7 percent decrease. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U index advanced 1.8 percent — the smallest rise in 2 years. The all items less food and energy index was mainly responsible for the total increase as it rose 2.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) Food prices were up 2.1 percent over the year, well below last July’s peak of 8.9 percent. The energy index declined 12.6 percent, holding down the overall all items index change, largely due to lower gasoline prices. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, July 2020–July 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jul 2020	0.8	0.9
Sep 2020	1.2	0.9
Nov 2020	1.4	1.4
Jan 2021	1.5	1.3
Mar 2021	2.6	2.0
May 2021	3.8	3.2
Jul 2021	4.4	3.6
Sep 2021	4.5	3.7
Nov 2021	5.8	4.4
Jan 2022	6.0	4.8
Mar 2022	7.3	6.0
May 2022	7.5	5.7
Jul 2022	7.5	5.6
Sep 2022	6.5	5.6
Nov 2022	5.6	4.9
Jan 2023	4.4	3.6
Mar 2023	3.7	4.0
May 2023	3.1	3.9
Jul 2023	1.8	2.9

The food index fell 0.3 percent over the last 2 months. Prices for food at home were down 0.5 percent—continuing a trend of declines since March 2023. Within the food at home category, meats, poultry, fish, and eggs prices decreased 1.6 percent, largely due to falling prices for chicken and fresh fish and seafood. Other food at home was down 1.3 percent, recording the index’s first decline of the year. Cereals and bakery products prices also declined (-2.1 percent). The remaining grocery categories had rising prices, such as fruits and vegetables (+1.7 percent) and nonalcoholic beverages (+2.0 percent). For the same period, food away from home advanced 0.2 percent.

From July 2022 to July 2023, food prices increased 2.1 percent. Food away from home increased as well, up 5.9 percent. With the first over-the-year decrease this year, the food at home index (-0.2 percent) tempered the overall index rise. Declining prices in meats, poultry, fish, and eggs led the drop (-2.9 percent). The cereals and bakery products and dairy and related products indexes both decreased 1.9 percent and fell for the first time since 2021. Partially offsetting the fall in food at home prices were other food at home, up 1.2 percent (smallest 12-month increase since July 2021), fruits and vegetables (+2.0 percent), and nonalcoholic beverages (+2.1 percent).

The energy index advanced 2.4 percent for the 2 months ending in July. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (+2.6 percent). The index for utility (piped) gas rose 3.5 percent and the electricity index increased 2.2 percent, but fuel oil prices fell during the same period.

Energy prices fell 12.6 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-21.5 percent). All of the over-the-year percent changes in the gasoline index have declined since March. The natural gas service index followed the same pattern, down 16.7 percent since July 2022. Prices for the electricity index increased 4.4 percent—the smallest 12-month increase in over a year and a half.

The index for all items less food and energy was down 0.2 percent in the latest 2-month period. Lower prices for recreation (-2.1 percent), led the overall index decline. Other lower prices included lodging away from home, apparel (down 1.8 percent), education and communication (down 0.4 percent), and household furnishings and operations (-0.4 percent). The overall index decline was partly offset by rising prices in shelter, up 0.2 percent. Within the shelter index, owners’ equivalent rent of residences increased (+0.9 percent) as did rent of primary residence (+0.2 percent). Higher prices were also noted in medical care (+0.5 percent) and other goods and services (+0.8 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.9 percent. The 12-month percent change for the all items less food and energy index has been higher than the all items index since March. The July rise was primarily due to a 5.0-percent rise in the shelter index, as owners’ equivalent rent of residences was up 5.6 percent and the index for rent of primary residence advanced 5.2 percent. Other components contributing to the increase in all items less food and energy included tuition, other school fees, and childcare (+6.3 percent); apparel (+7.1 percent); and other goods and services (+4.5 percent). Moderating the rise in the overall index was medical care, down 4.9 percent, the third consecutive decrease and the largest over-the-year decline in the history of the series.

The September 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area is scheduled to be released on October 12, 2023.

The Consumer Price Index for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria is published bi-monthly. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes CPIs for two population groups: (1) a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) which covers approximately 89 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 28 percent of the total population. The CPI-U includes, in addition to wage earners and clerical workers, groups such as professional, managerial, and technical workers, the self-employed, short-term workers, the unemployed, and retirees and others not in the labor force.

The CPI is based on prices of food, clothing, shelter, and fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and the other goods and services that people buy for day-to-day living. Each month, prices are collected in 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 retail establishments--department stores, supermarkets, hospitals, filling stations, and other types of stores and service establishments. All taxes directly associated with the purchase and use of items are included in the index.

The index measures price changes from a designated reference date (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

In calculating the index, price changes for the various items in each location are averaged together with weights that represent their importance in the spending of the appropriate population group. Local data are then combined to obtain a U.S. city average. Because the sample size of a local area is smaller, the local area index is subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error than the national index. In addition, local indexes are not adjusted for seasonal influences. As a result, local area indexes show greater volatility than the national index, although their long-term trends are quite similar. Note: Area indexes do not measure differences in the level of prices between cities; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, Core Based Statistical Area includes the District of Columbia; the counties of Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George’s in Maryland; the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park and the counties of Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren in Virginia; and the county of Jefferson in West Virginia.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	May 2023	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Jul. 2022	May 2023	Jun. 2023
All items		305.614		305.273	1.8	-0.1
Food and beverages		299.681		299.058	2.2	-0.2
Food		308.473		307.701	2.1	-0.3
Food at home		288.637	286.426	287.050	-0.2	-0.5	0.2
Cereals and bakery products		384.528	363.758	376.565	-1.9	-2.1	3.5
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		308.310	308.380	303.320	-2.9	-1.6	-1.6
Dairy and related products		285.776	287.288	283.369	-1.9	-0.8	-1.4
Fruits and vegetables		290.096	296.185	294.938	2.0	1.7	-0.4
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		248.439	253.370	253.452	2.1	2.0	0.0
Other food at home		249.193	242.865	245.883	1.2	-1.3	1.2
Food away from home		335.461		336.250	5.9	0.2
Alcoholic beverages		218.372		219.764	2.8	0.6
Housing		317.141		318.084	4.0	0.3
Shelter		376.936	377.315	377.786	5.0	0.2	0.1
Rent of primary residence		406.447	406.596	407.067	5.2	0.2	0.1
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		384.143	385.994	387.742	5.6	0.9	0.5
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		384.143	385.994	387.742	5.6	0.9	0.5
Fuels and utilities		282.792		288.636	-1.2	2.1
Household energy		224.849	236.048	229.662	-3.0	2.1	-2.7
Energy services		229.686	242.084	235.512	-2.1	2.5	-2.7
Electricity		250.301	270.022	255.841	4.4	2.2	-5.3
Utility (piped) gas service		174.406	170.535	180.559	-16.7	3.5	5.9
Household furnishings and operations		130.324		129.812	1.3	-0.4
Apparel		165.156		162.179	7.1	-1.8
Transportation		270.876		269.264	-2.0	-0.6
Private transportation		281.763		281.504	-1.5	-0.1
New and used motor vehicles(3)		130.158		128.387	0.4	-1.4
New vehicles(1)		231.418		231.770	2.2	0.2
Used cars and trucks(1)		431.946		435.131	-5.7	0.7
Motor fuel		329.045	329.630	337.595	-21.4	2.6	2.4
Gasoline (all types)		324.499	325.126	333.051	-21.5	2.6	2.4
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		316.884	317.596	325.476	-21.8	2.7	2.5
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		332.687	333.012	339.680	-20.3	2.1	2.0
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		347.978	347.833	355.333	-18.7	2.1	2.2
Medical care		513.052		515.598	-4.9	0.5
Recreation(3)		127.997		125.310	1.8	-2.1
Education and communication(3)		165.602		164.930	2.0	-0.4
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,585.466		1,608.740	6.3	1.5
Other goods and services		499.127		502.878	4.5	0.8
Commodity and service group
Commodities		214.570		213.467	-0.7	-0.5
Commodities less food and beverages		172.176		170.927	-2.3	-0.7
Nondurables less food and beverages		222.817		221.599	-4.1	-0.5
Durables		123.845		122.727	-0.7	-0.9
Services		386.777		387.196	3.3	0.1
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		276.134		275.278	0.1	-0.3
All items less medical care		295.933		295.444	2.4	-0.2
Commodities less food		174.191		173.004	-2.2	-0.7
Nondurables		260.066		259.155	-0.8	-0.4
Nondurables less food		221.946		220.895	-3.6	-0.5
Services less rent of shelter(2)		409.411		409.367	1.1	0.0
Services less medical care services		374.126		374.606	4.6	0.1
Energy		276.671	284.049	283.204	-12.6	2.4	-0.3
All items less energy		312.102		311.324	2.8	-0.2
All items less food and energy		314.002		313.219	2.9	-0.2
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a November 1977=100 base. (2) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.