Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.3 percent for the two months ending in July 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the largest contributor to the rise was the energy index, which rose 4.1 percent in June and July. The food index increased 0.7 percent, while the all items less food and energy index fell 0.1 percent over the past two months, largely due to decreases in prices paid for lodging away from home and public transportation. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 4.0 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.4 percent, while food prices rose 6.7 percent. Energy prices fell 17.9 percent, largely the result of a decline in prices paid for gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, July 2020–July 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jul 2020	0.4	1.4
Sep 2020	0.4	1.0
Nov 2020	0.3	0.9
Jan 2021	1.5	1.6
Mar 2021	3.4	2.5
May 2021	6.3	4.8
Jul 2021	5.6	4.6
Sep 2021	5.9	4.2
Nov 2021	7.5	5.5
Jan 2022	7.8	6.3
Mar 2022	9.0	6.5
May 2022	9.1	6.0
Jul 2022	9.4	5.7
Sep 2022	9.2	7.2
Nov 2022	8.4	7.6
Jan 2023	7.5	7.2
Mar 2023	5.8	7.4
May 2023	4.7	7.0
Jul 2023	4.0	6.4

Food prices rose 0.7 percent for the two months ending in July. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased by 1.0 percent, while prices paid for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 0.4 percent over the same period. The main contributors to the increase in the food at home index were the fruits and vegetables (+4.9 percent) and cereals and bakery products (+1.6 percent) categories. Declining prices for other food at home (-1.6 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.4 percent) slightly offset the rise.

Over the year, food prices increased 6.7 percent. Prices for food away from home were up 9.8 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 4.3 percent since a year ago, largely due to increases in fruits and vegetables (+13.1 percent) and other food at home (+7.4 percent). Partially offsetting the increase was a decline in the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-3.1 percent); this was the first decrease in this category since November 2019.

The energy index was up 4.1 percent for the two months ending in July. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (+4.9 percent), but rising prices for electricity (+3.0 percent) and natural gas service (+6.3 percent) also contributed to the two-month advance.

From July 2022 to July 2023, energy prices fell 17.9 percent, mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-18.9 percent). Prices for electricity and natural gas service both declined, 16.2 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively, during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.1 percent in June and July, after rising 0.8 percent in April and May. Lower prices for lodging away from home, public transportation, and medical care (-1.1 percent) were almost entirely offset by higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.6 percent), tuition, other school fees, and childcare (+6.4 percent), and rent of primary residence (+0.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.4 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+9.0 percent), rent of primary residence (+7.9 percent), and recreation (+6.7 percent). Falling prices for used cars and trucks (-4.9 percent) slightly offset the increase.

The September 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 12, 2023.

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 93 percent of the total U.S. population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total U.S. 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 75 urban areas across the country from about 6,000 housing units and approximately 22,000 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; for most of the CPI-U the reference base is 1982-84 equals 100. An increase of 7 percent from the reference base, for example, is shown as 107.000.  Alternatively, that relationship can also be expressed as the price of a base period market basket of goods and services rising from $100 to $107. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the CPI section of the BLS Handbook of Methods available on the internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/cpi/.

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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, Core Based Statistical Area includes the counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise.

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