Prices in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.8 percent for the two months ending in April 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the energy index increased 6.1 percent in March and April, largely due to a rise in gasoline prices. The all items less food and energy index advanced 0.4 percent, and the index for food decreased 0.4 percent.  (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 2.9 percent, mainly driven by an increase in the index for all items less food and energy (+2.7 percent). Energy prices advanced 5.6 percent, while food prices increased 2.5 percent over the year. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, April 2021–April 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Apr 2021	4.5	2.8
Jun 2021	4.6	3.1
Aug 2021	5.3	3.5
Oct 2021	6.1	3.7
Dec 2021	6.6	4.9
Feb 2022	7.8	6.5
Apr 2022	8.5	6.9
Jun 2022	10.2	6.0
Aug 2022	9.5	7.0
Oct 2022	7.6	6.9
Dec 2022	5.3	5.2
Feb 2023	5.2	5.4
Apr 2023	4.0	5.3
Jun 2023	1.7	5.4
Aug 2023	2.7	4.5
Oct 2023	3.0	3.9
Dec 2023	4.5	5.2
Feb 2024	3.5	3.7
Apr 2024	2.9	2.7

The food index declined 0.4 percent for the two months ending in April. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) fell 1.0 percent, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 0.2 percent for the same period. The decrease in the food at home index was mainly due to a 3.5-percent decline in the index for other food at home (which includes sugar, sweets, fats, and oils). An increase in the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (+1.1 percent) partially offset the decrease.

Over the year, the food index advanced 2.5 percent. The main influence on the rise were higher prices for food away from home, which were up 5.4 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 0.5 percent since a year ago, almost entirely due to an increase in the index for fruits and vegetables (+9.4 percent). A decline in the index for cereals and bakery products (-5.9 percent) partially offset the increase.

The energy index rose 6.1 percent for the two months ending in April. The increase was due to higher prices for gasoline (+12.3 percent). Prices for electricity declined 1.4 percent, while prices for natural gas service also decreased for the same period.

From April 2023 to April 2024, the energy index advanced 5.6 percent, largely due to higher prices for electricity (+15.8 percent). Prices paid for gasoline fell 1.0 percent, while prices decreased for natural gas service during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.4 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for lodging away from home, owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.5 percent), and recreation (+2.7 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for medical care services, household furnishings and operations (-1.4 percent), and new and used motor vehicles (-0.8 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.7 percent. Components contributing most to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+4.7 percent), rent of primary residence (+4.7 percent), and apparel (+12.5 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases for new and used motor vehicles (-3.1 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-5.0 percent).

The June 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, July 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 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas, Core Based Statistical Area includes the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller.

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.