Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.1 percent for the two months ending in August 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the food index was up 0.9 percent, while the all items less food and energy index remained unchanged. The energy index declined 0.2 percent, entirely due to falling gasoline prices. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 3.3 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.1 percent, and the food index increased 2.2 percent over the year. Energy prices declined 2.6 percent, the result of a decrease in the gasoline index. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, August 2021–August 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Dec 2023	2.8	3.6
Feb 2024	3.6	4.8
Apr 2024	4.0	4.2
Jun 2024	3.4	4.3
Aug 2024	3.3	4.1

Food prices advanced 0.9 percent for the two months ending in August. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 1.9 percent, and prices for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 0.2 percent for the same period. Within the food at home category, the indexes for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (+1.7 percent) and cereals and bakery products (+1.2 percent) contributed most to the rise in the index; the indexes for other food at home (-0.8 percent) and dairy and related products (-1.4 percent) partially offset the increase.

Over the year, food prices were up 2.2 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 4.9 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home rose 0.5 percent.

The energy index declined 0.2 percent for the two months ending in August, entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-1.1 percent). The indexes for electricity and natural gas service both increased, 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, for the same period.

From August 2023 to August 2024, energy prices declined 2.6 percent, entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-10.5 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service rose 8.5 percent, and prices for electricity increased 4.5 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+1.4 percent), rent of primary residence (+2.0 percent) and public transportation were the leading contributions to gains.  Index increases were entirely offset by declines, which included medical care services, lodging away from home, and apparel (-2.4 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 4.1 percent. Advances were led by the indexes for shelter (+7.7 percent), medical care (+3.4 percent), and motor vehicle maintenance and repair. Decreases in the indexes for new and used motor vehicles (-3.7 percent) and apparel (-6.9 percent) partially offset increases.

The October 2024 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, November 13, 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.