Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), were unchanged for the two months ending in October 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the energy index declined 11.0 percent in September and October, largely due to a decrease in electricity prices. The all items less food and energy index rose by 1.0 percent, and the food index was up 0.5 percent over the past two months. (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 3.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.8 percent over the year. Food prices rose 1.7 percent, while energy prices declined 0.8 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, October 2020–October 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Oct 2020	1.1	1.7
Dec 2020	1.2	2.2
Feb 2021	1.6	1.8
Apr 2021	5.4	4.8
Jun 2021	6.1	5.0
Aug 2021	6.6	5.2
Oct 2021	7.5	5.8
Dec 2021	8.3	6.3
Feb 2022	8.2	6.3
Apr 2022	8.4	5.7
Jun 2022	8.4	4.8
Aug 2022	7.5	5.3
Oct 2022	7.0	5.0
Dec 2022	6.2	5.0
Feb 2023	5.9	4.8
Apr 2023	4.2	4.6
Jun 2023	3.1	4.8
Aug 2023	3.1	3.7
Oct 2023	3.1	3.8

Food prices advanced 0.5 percent for the two months ending in October. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 0.7 percent, and prices for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 0.4 percent for the same period. Within the food at home category, increases in the indexes for cereals and bakery products (+3.2 percent), nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+2.9 percent), and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (+1.0 percent) were partially offset by a decline in the indexes for fruits and vegetables (-2.4 percent).

Over the year, food prices advanced 1.7 percent. Prices for food at home rose 3.3 percent, while prices for food away from home fell 0.7 percent over the same period. An increase in the prices paid for other food at home (+4.7 percent) and cereals and bakery products (+8.4 percent) drove most of the rise in the food at home index. A decline in prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-3.0 percent) partially offset the increase.

The energy index fell 11.0 percent for the two months ending in October. The decrease was largely due to lower prices for electricity (-23.3 percent), but a decline in the prices paid for gasoline (-5.9 percent) also contributed. The index for natural gas service (+0.5 percent) rose over the same period.

From October 2022 to October 2023, energy prices declined 0.8 percent, with lower prices for electricity (-1.7 percent) being the largest contributor to the decrease. Also contributing to the decline were prices paid for natural gas service (-1.3 percent). The index for gasoline advanced 0.3 percent over the same period.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.0 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+2.1 percent), education and communication (+1.9 percent), household furnishings and operations (+2.3 percent), and motor vehicle maintenance and repair were partially offset by lower prices for lodging away from home and used cars and trucks (-6.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.8 percent. Components contributing to the rise included owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+6.7 percent), rent of primary residence (+7.4 percent) and other goods and services (+5.2 percent). Partly offsetting these increases were declines in the indexes for medical care services, used cars and trucks (-6.9 percent), and public transportation.

The December 2023 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, January 11, 2024

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 St. Louis, MO-IL, area covered in this release includes Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois; and Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

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.