Prices in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), declined 0.3 percent for the two months ending in October 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the energy index fell 4.8 percent in September and October, largely driven by a decrease in gasoline prices. The all items less food and energy index decreased 0.1 percent, while the food index increased 1.2 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 3.0 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 3.9 percent, while food prices rose 4.9 percent. Energy prices declined 8.3 percent, mainly the result of a decrease in the price of electricity. (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, October 2020–October 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Oct 2023	3.0	3.9

Food prices increased 1.2 percent for the two months ending in October. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 1.9 percent, while prices paid for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 0.1 percent for the same period. The increase in the food at home index was mainly due to a rise in the prices for fruits and vegetables (+2.8 percent) and other food at home (+1.8 percent), but a rise in the indexes for the other four major grocery store food groups also contributed.

Over the year, food prices rose 4.9 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 5.2 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store food group indexes contributing to the rise. A rise in the prices paid for fruits and vegetables (+10.1 percent) contributed most to the over-the-year increase in the food at home index. Prices for food away from home advanced 4.7 percent over the same period.

The energy index declined 4.8 percent for the two months ending in October. The decrease was almost entirely driven by lower prices for gasoline (-9.0 percent), but lower prices for electricity also contributed to the decline (-1.6 percent). The index’s decline over this period was somewhat offset by an increase in the index for natural gas service (+8.4 percent).

From October 2022 to October 2023, energy prices declined 8.3 percent, largely due to lower prices for electricity (-13.3 percent), but all major components contributed to the decline. Prices paid for gasoline decreased 1.9 percent, and prices for natural gas service fell 17.2 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy declined 0.1 percent in September and October, after rising 0.4 percent in July and August. Among the components contributing most to the fall in prices were used cars and trucks (-7.0 percent), motor vehicle maintenance and repair, and medical care commodities. These decreases were almost entirely offset by higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+1.1 percent), household furnishings and operations (+1.9 percent), and rent of primary residence (+0.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.9 percent. Components contributing most to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+8.2 percent), rent of primary residence (+8.1 percent), and other goods and services (+7.2 percent). Declines in the indexes for used cars and trucks (-6.4 percent), medical care services, and household furnishings and operations (-2.9 percent) slightly offset these increases.

The December 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, January 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.