The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South increased 0.5 percent in April, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The index for all items less food and energy also rose 0.5 percent over the month. The food index increased 0.9 percent in April, while the energy index declined 0.5 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U for the South advanced 8.8 percent for the 12 months ending in April, after increasing 9.1-percent over the 12-month period ending in March. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.8 percent over the past year. The energy index and the food index also increased over the past 12 months, up 29.8 percent and 9.3 percent, respectively. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index increased 0.9 percent in April, led by a 1.3 percent increase in the food at home index. The food away from home index also rose in April, up 0.3 percent.

The food index advanced 9.3 percent for the 12 months ending in April, reflecting increases in the food at home (+10.5 percent) and food away from home (+7.5 percent) indexes.

Energy

The energy index declined 0.5 percent in April, reflecting a 2.3 percent decrease in the gasoline index. In contrast, the electricity and utility (piped) gas service indexes increased over the month, up 1.5 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively.  

The energy index advanced 29.8 percent for the 12 months ending in April, led by a 44.6-percent increase in the gasoline index. The electricity index rose 11.4 percent over the month, while the utility (piped) gas service index increased 21.5 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5 percent in April, reflecting increases in several indexes, including shelter (+0.6 percent) and recreation (+1.0 percent). The new and used motor vehicles index was little changed in April, up 0.1 percent, as a 1.0-percent increase in the new vehicles index was offset by a 0.6-percent decline in the used cars and trucks index.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.8 percent for the 12 months ending in April, led by a 6.0-percent increase in the shelter index. The new and used motor vehicles index advanced 17.3 percent over the past 12 months, reflecting increases in the used cars and trucks (+22.6 percent) and new vehicles (+13.3 percent) indexes.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. In April, the all items CPI-U rose 0.7 percent in the East South Central division and 0.6 percent in the West South Central division. The all items index in the South Atlantic division edged up 0.3 percent.  

Over the year, the all items index advanced 9.3 percent in the West South Central division. The all items index rose 8.8 percent in the South Atlantic division and 7.8 percent in the East South Central division.

Table A. South region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.5	1.8	0.2	1.2	0.3	2.3	0.5	1.6	0.9	7.8
February	0.6	2.1	0.5	1.1	0.2	1.9	0.5	2.0	1.1	8.4
March	0.2	2.3	0.7	1.6	-0.1	1.1	0.8	2.9	1.4	9.1
April	0.4	2.4	0.5	1.8	-0.8	-0.2	0.7	4.4	0.5	8.8
May	0.3	2.7	-0.1	1.4	-0.2	-0.4	0.8	5.6
June	0.2	2.7	-0.1	1.1	0.6	0.3	0.9	5.8
July	0.0	2.9	0.3	1.4	0.6	0.6	0.5	5.8
August	-0.1	2.4	-0.1	1.4	0.4	1.1	0.3	5.6
September	0.0	1.7	0.0	1.3	0.2	1.3	0.3	5.8
October	0.2	2.1	0.2	1.3	0.1	1.3	1.0	6.6
November	-0.3	1.9	0.0	1.6	-0.1	1.2	0.4	7.2
December	-0.5	1.5	0.0	2.1	0.2	1.4	0.3	7.4

The Consumer Price Index for May 2022 is scheduled to be released on Friday, June 10, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

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 South region is comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods
South (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Feb. 2022	Mar. 2022	Apr. 2022	Apr. 2021	Feb. 2022	Mar. 2022
Expenditure category
All Items	274.688	278.598	279.879	8.8	1.9	0.5
All items (December 1977=100)	445.582	451.925	454.002	-	-	-
Food and beverages	286.289	289.302	291.755	8.9	1.9	0.8
Food	288.729	291.883	294.609	9.3	2.0	0.9
Food at home	271.047	275.222	278.880	10.5	2.9	1.3
Cereal and bakery products	312.551	318.757	323.203	10.8	3.4	1.4
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	294.166	297.929	302.814	14.1	2.9	1.6
Dairy and related products	240.727	244.669	250.215	8.5	3.9	2.3
Fruits and vegetables	314.731	320.082	319.719	5.7	1.6	-0.1
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	187.271	189.062	192.198	10.6	2.6	1.7
Other food at home	236.255	240.239	243.811	10.8	3.2	1.5
Food away from home	317.675	318.933	319.932	7.5	0.7	0.3
Alcoholic beverages	252.384	253.443	252.096	2.6	-0.1	-0.5
Housing	268.728	270.537	272.278	7.0	1.3	0.6
Shelter	308.941	311.085	312.814	6.0	1.3	0.6
Rent of primary residence	325.362	327.124	329.443	6.3	1.3	0.7
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)	310.623	312.040	313.676	5.4	1.0	0.5
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)	310.618	312.034	313.672	5.4	1.0	0.5
Fuels and utilities	267.286	267.919	271.551	10.7	1.6	1.4
Household energy	216.495	217.196	220.979	13.3	2.1	1.7
Energy services	215.760	216.103	220.033	12.8	2.0	1.8
Electricity	209.768	209.956	213.188	11.4	1.6	1.5
Utility (piped) gas service	237.872	239.200	247.382	21.5	4.0	3.4
Household furnishings and operations	139.782	141.153	141.850	10.1	1.5	0.5
Apparel	136.479	136.594	136.131	7.0	-0.3	-0.3
Transportation	256.401	268.755	269.144	20.6	5.0	0.1
Private transportation	259.523	271.780	270.803	20.8	4.3	-0.4
New and used motor vehicles(2)	130.720	130.501	130.594	17.3	-0.1	0.1
New vehicles	174.304	175.662	177.369	13.3	1.8	1.0
New cars and trucks(2)(3)	118.743	119.700	-	-	-	-
New cars(3)	173.253	174.209	176.819	14.3	2.1	1.5
Used cars and trucks	213.031	209.376	208.048	22.6	-2.3	-0.6
Motor fuel	292.312	352.110	344.680	45.1	17.9	-2.1
Gasoline (all types)	290.641	349.852	341.836	44.6	17.6	-2.3
Unleaded regular(3)	284.703	343.529	335.176	45.3	17.7	-2.4
Unleaded midgrade(3)(4)	319.902	380.888	375.678	42.1	17.4	-1.4
Unleaded premium(3)	309.071	364.950	360.554	38.8	16.7	-1.2
Medical care	509.264	512.534	513.192	3.6	0.8	0.1
Medical care commodities	358.358	359.712	362.212	3.7	1.1	0.7
Medical care services	560.353	564.287	564.288	3.6	0.7	0.0
Professional services	387.294	389.751	387.911	1.1	0.2	-0.5
Recreation(2)	129.388	128.704	129.972	3.8	0.5	1.0
Education and communication(2)	138.857	138.955	138.682	1.2	-0.1	-0.2
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(5)	1,402.142	1,400.967	1,402.439	2.7	0.0	0.1
Other goods and services	476.452	477.312	479.148	6.0	0.6	0.4
Commodity and service group
All Items	274.688	278.598	279.879	8.8	1.9	0.5
Commodities	212.992	218.696	218.958	13.4	2.8	0.1
Commodities less food and beverages	177.654	183.927	183.461	16.0	3.3	-0.3
Nondurables less food and beverages	225.069	242.159	240.485	18.3	6.8	-0.7
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	278.603	304.866	302.518	21.3	8.6	-0.8
Durables	131.470	131.359	131.578	14.1	0.1	0.2
Services	336.301	338.263	340.604	5.9	1.3	0.7
Rent of shelter(1)	317.792	320.038	321.843	6.1	1.3	0.6
Transportation services	377.457	384.347	392.565	8.4	4.0	2.1
Other services	371.482	370.325	371.930	3.2	0.1	0.4
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	261.798	265.725	267.032	9.3	2.0	0.5
All items less food	272.253	276.264	277.339	8.7	1.9	0.4
All items less shelter	262.488	267.114	268.224	10.1	2.2	0.4
Commodities less food	180.072	186.262	185.776	15.5	3.2	-0.3
Nondurables	254.019	264.550	264.803	13.3	4.2	0.1
Nondurables less food	226.275	242.454	240.799	17.3	6.4	-0.7
Nondurables less food and apparel	274.891	298.928	296.675	19.7	7.9	-0.8
Services less rent of shelter(1)	370.192	371.853	374.946	5.7	1.3	0.8
Services less medical care services	316.153	317.946	320.450	6.2	1.4	0.8
Energy	246.813	274.544	273.118	29.8	10.7	-0.5
All items less energy	279.073	280.614	282.174	7.1	1.1	0.6
All items less food and energy	277.875	279.164	280.540	6.8	1.0	0.5
Commodities less food and energy commodities	166.959	167.121	167.418	10.2	0.3	0.2
Energy commodities	297.413	357.393	349.922	44.8	17.7	-2.1
Services less energy services	349.087	351.220	353.395	5.5	1.2	0.6
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (2) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (5) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base.
- Data not available. Regions defined as the four Census regions. South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.