Prices in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 1.0 percent for the two months ending in August 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the largest contributor to the rise was the energy index, which rose 10.8 percent in July and August. The all items less food and energy increased 0.4 percent, largely due to higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences. The food index advanced 0.4 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 2.7 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.5 percent, while food prices increased 5.0 percent. Energy prices declined 15.9 percent, largely the result of a decrease in electricity prices. (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, August 2020–August 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Aug 2020	-0.2	0.3
Oct 2020	-0.1	0.3
Dec 2020	0.7	0.7
Feb 2021	1.0	0.0
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

Food prices increased 0.4 percent for the two months ending in August. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased by 0.8 percent, while prices paid for food at home (grocery store prices) had no change over the same period. Within the food at home category, indexes increasing included nonalcoholic beverages and beverage material (+2.1 percent) and cereals and bakery products (+1.7 percent). Falling prices for fruits and vegetables (-2.3 percent) led the declines that fully offset increases in the grocery categories.

Over the year, food prices increased 5.0 percent. Prices for food at home rose 4.4 percent, while prices for food away from home advanced 6.2 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store group indexes contributing to the rise. The other food at home index (which includes sugars, sweets, fats, and oils) contributed the most to the rise (+6.1 percent).

The energy index advanced 10.8 percent for the two months ending in August. The increase was largely due to higher prices for electricity (+16.0 percent), but price increases for both gasoline (+9.2 percent) and natural gas services (+2.0 percent) also contributed to the rise over the 2-month period.

From August 2022 to August 2023, energy prices declined 15.9 percent. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for electricity (-29.1 percent) but decreasing prices for gasoline (-2.4 percent) also contributed. Prices paid for natural gas service also fell 24.8 percent over the year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.4 percent in July and August, after rising 0.6 percent in May and June. Among the components contributing most to the rise were owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.9 percent), motor vehicle maintenance and repair, and apparel (+7.9 percent). These increases were partially offset by lower prices for household furnishings and operations (-3.3 percent), lodging away from home, and new and used motor vehicles (-0.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 4.5 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+8.7 percent) and rent of primary residence (+8.9 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were decreasing prices for household furnishings and operations (-4.6 percent), medical care services, and used cars and trucks (-5.6 percent).

The October 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, November 14, 2023.

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.