Prices in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.6 percent for the two months ending in March 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted the energy index was higher while the food index fell. The index for all items less food and energy rose from January to March due to higher prices for medical care, new and used motor vehicles, and household furnishings and operations. (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 2.7 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.2 percent over the year. Food prices rose 0.9 percent. Energy prices fell 0.7 percent, largely the result of a decrease in prices for utility (piped) gas service. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI, March 2021–March 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Mar 2021	3.0	2.0
May 2021	4.6	3.6
Jul 2021	6.5	5.6
Sep 2021	5.4	3.7
Nov 2021	6.9	5.0
Jan 2022	7.2	5.7
Mar 2022	8.2	6.6
May 2022	8.7	5.8
Jul 2022	8.2	5.0
Sep 2022	7.4	5.3
Nov 2022	5.3	3.7
Jan 2023	5.1	3.8
Mar 2023	3.4	3.0
May 2023	1.8	2.4
Jul 2023	1.0	2.4
Sep 2023	2.2	3.2
Nov 2023	2.8	3.7
Jan 2024	2.6	3.5
Mar 2024	2.7	3.2

Food prices declined 0.2 percent for the two months ending in March. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home (groceries) decreased 1.4 percent, and food prices away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 1.7 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 0.9 percent. Prices for food at home declined 2.1 percent since a year ago. Four of the six major grocery store food group indexes were lower over the year. Categories decreasing were fruits and vegetables (-6.7 percent), dairy and related products (-3.9 percent), cereals and bakery products (-2.6 percent), and the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.6 percent). Food prices away from home rose 5.9 percent.

The energy index rose 6.0 percent for the two months ending in March. The increase was mainly due to higher gasoline prices (+15.2 percent). Electricity prices rose 3.1 percent, while utility (piped) gas service prices fell 12.3 percent for the same period.

Energy prices fell 0.7 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for utility (piped) gas service (-16.7 percent). Prices paid for electricity advanced 6.8 percent, while gasoline prices fell 0.2 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.3 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for medical care (+2.0 percent), new and used motor vehicles, including leased cars and trucks (+1.8 percent), and household furnishings and operations (+1.3 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for recreation (-2.1 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 3.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (+5.1 percent) and recreation (+5.5 percent).

The May 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area is scheduled to be released on June 12, 2024.

The Consumer Price Index for Minneapolis 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 93 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 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 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI Core Based Statistical Area consists of Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Le Sueur, Mille Lacs, Ramsey, Scott, Sherburne, Sibley, Washington, and Wright Counties in Minnesota; and Pierce and St. Croix Counties in Wisconsin.

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