Mid-Atlantic Information Office

Consumer Price Index, South Region – March 2011 (PDF)

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 1.2 percent in March—the largest over-the-month increase since September 2005, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that prices advanced for energy, food, and all items less food and energy. Within the all items less food and energy group, apparel and shelter were among those indexes that recorded increases. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 2.8 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.2 percent over the year. (See chart 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.7 percent in March following a 0.5-percent increase in the previous month. Within the food index, prices for food at home increased 1.0 percent and prices for food away from home rose 0.4 percent over the month.

Over the year, the index for food advanced 2.8 percent as prices for food at home and food away from home increased 3.5 and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Energy

The energy index increased 7.7 percent in March, mainly due to a 13.0-percent advance in motor fuel prices.  Prices for electricity were little changed, inching up 0.1 percent, while utility (piped) gas service prices declined 1.3 percent since February.

Over the year, the energy index advanced 15.7 percent, primarily reflecting higher prices for motor fuel (28.3 percent). Electricity prices rose 0.6 percent during the period, while prices for utility (piped) gas service declined 9.6 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.4 percent in March. Among the components of the index, apparel prices recorded a seasonal increase of 2.3 percent, while shelter costs rose 0.2 percent. Recreation prices also advanced, up 0.6 percent since February.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 1.2 percent due largely to higher prices for shelter, up 1.2 percent. Prices for apparel and recreation decreased over the year, down 1.6 and 0.5 percent, respectively. 

The Consumer Price Index for April 2011 is scheduled to be released on Friday, May 13, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Table A. South region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2006		2007		2008		2009		2010		2011
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.7	4.3	0.1	1.8	0.5	4.9	0.4	-0.1	0.3	2.8	0.5	1.7
February	0.2	3.8	0.5	2.2	0.3	4.6	0.5	0.1	0.0	2.3	0.5	2.2
March	0.5	3.7	1.0	2.6	0.8	4.4	0.3	-0.3	0.6	2.5	1.2	2.8
April	1.0	4.0	0.9	2.5	0.7	4.2	0.3	-0.7	0.1	2.4	-	-
May	0.4	4.4	0.6	2.7	0.9	4.6	0.3	-1.3	0.0	2.0	-	-
June	0.4	4.5	0.4	2.7	1.1	5.3	1.0	-1.4	-0.1	0.9	-	-
July	0.4	4.5	-0.1	2.3	0.5	5.8	-0.3	-2.1	-0.1	1.0	-	-
August	0.1	4.1	-0.3	2.0	-0.4	5.6	0.1	-1.6	0.2	1.1	-	-
September	-0.7	2.0	0.3	3.0	0.1	5.4	0.0	-1.8	0.2	1.4	-	-
October	-0.6	1.1	0.2	3.8	-1.2	3.9	0.2	-0.4	0.1	1.3	-	-
November	-0.2	1.9	0.6	4.7	-2.2	1.0	0.2	2.0	0.0	1.1	-	-
December	0.3	2.5	0.0	4.4	-1.0	0.0	-0.1	2.9	0.2	1.4	-	-

Technical Note

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 87 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 32 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 25,000 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 the 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 and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available 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 South region is comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message referral phone number: (800) 877-8339.

For personal assistance or further information on Consumer Price Indexes, as well as other Bureau products, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at (215) 597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods
South (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Jan. 2011	Feb. 2011	Mar. 2011	Mar. 2010	Jan. 2011	Feb. 2011
Expenditure category
All Items	213.589	214.735	217.214	2.8	1.7	1.2
All items (December 1977=100)	346.472	348.330	352.351
Food and beverages	221.085	222.160	223.642	2.7	1.2	0.7
Food	221.699	222.813	224.414	2.8	1.2	0.7
Food at home	217.507	218.731	220.852	3.5	1.5	1.0
Food away from home	230.187	231.160	232.055	1.8	0.8	0.4
Alcoholic beverages	211.476	212.023	211.903	2.1	0.2	-0.1
Housing	201.215	201.858	202.135	0.8	0.5	0.1
Shelter	223.544	224.174	224.591	1.2	0.5	0.2
Rent of primary residence (1)	224.378	224.615	224.786	0.6	0.2	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences (1) (2)	227.628	228.091	228.341	1.3	0.3	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence (1) (2)	227.622	228.085	228.333	1.3	0.3	0.1
Fuels and utilities	211.265	212.278	212.508	0.5	0.6	0.1
Household energy	178.154	179.191	179.296	-0.4	0.6	0.1
Energy services (1)	177.894	178.785	178.689	-0.8	0.4	-0.1
Electricity (1)	174.288	175.143	175.388	0.6	0.6	0.1
Utility (piped) gas service (1)	186.925	187.983	185.514	-9.6	-0.8	-1.3
Household furnishings and operations	125.708	126.194	125.987	-1.5	0.2	-0.2
Apparel	125.582	127.908	130.803	-1.6	4.2	2.3
Transportation	199.298	201.493	211.178	11.0	6.0	4.8
Private transportation	197.504	199.601	209.388	11.0	6.0	4.9
New and used motor vehicles (3)	97.240	98.162	98.770	1.5	1.6	0.6
New vehicles	143.266	145.380	146.154	1.8	2.0	0.5
New cars and trucks (3) (4)	97.520	98.950	99.477	1.9	2.0	0.5
New cars (4)	146.132	148.521	149.309	1.7	2.2	0.5
Used cars and trucks	141.156	141.436	142.454	1.8	0.9	0.7
Motor fuel	263.741	268.611	303.500	28.3	15.1	13.0
Gasoline (all types)	262.833	267.358	302.323	28.0	15.0	13.1
Unleaded regular (4)	261.846	266.448	301.878	28.5	15.3	13.3
Unleaded midgrade (4) (5)	273.869	278.431	313.704	27.3	14.5	12.7
Unleaded premium (4)	260.008	264.082	296.560	26.5	14.1	12.3
Medical care	374.853	376.516	377.518	2.3	0.7	0.3
Medical care commodities	302.224	303.035	304.012	1.3	0.6	0.3
Medical care services	399.072	401.083	402.073	2.7	0.8	0.2
Professional services	330.844	332.641	334.002	3.0	1.0	0.4
Recreation (3)	112.800	113.227	113.942	-0.5	1.0	0.6
Education and communication (3)	126.553	126.787	126.783	1.2	0.2	0.0
Other goods and services	376.805	377.371	376.969	1.3	0.0	-0.1
Commodity and service group
All Items	213.589	214.735	217.214	2.8	1.7	1.2
Commodities	178.789	180.237	184.635	4.6	3.3	2.4
Commodities less food and beverages	157.101	158.671	164.178	5.7	4.5	3.5
Nondurables less food and beverages	203.516	205.812	216.717	9.1	6.5	5.3
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	251.217	253.548	269.134	12.4	7.1	6.1
Durables	113.690	114.582	115.057	0.2	1.2	0.4
Services	249.268	250.127	250.749	1.6	0.6	0.2
Rent of shelter (2)	229.739	230.387	230.824	1.2	0.5	0.2
Transportation services	273.172	274.416	276.570	4.5	1.2	0.8
Other services	300.598	301.750	302.893	1.6	0.8	0.4
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	204.417	205.528	208.034	2.9	1.8	1.2
All items less food	212.134	213.284	215.899	2.8	1.8	1.2
All items less shelter	210.989	212.362	215.735	3.6	2.2	1.6
Commodities less food	158.919	160.463	165.822	5.6	4.3	3.3
Nondurables	212.366	214.104	220.672	6.0	3.9	3.1
Nondurables less food	203.786	205.982	216.253	8.7	6.1	5.0
Nondurables less food and apparel	246.657	248.823	262.987	11.6	6.6	5.7
Services less rent of shelter (2)	281.571	282.733	283.619	2.1	0.7	0.3
Services less medical care services	235.427	236.203	236.791	1.5	0.6	0.2
Energy	213.268	216.095	232.733	15.7	9.1	7.7
All items less energy	214.271	215.229	216.108	1.5	0.9	0.4
All items less food and energy	213.345	214.278	215.028	1.2	0.8	0.4
Commodities less food and energy commodities	145.350	146.380	147.192	-0.2	1.3	0.6
Energy commodities	267.663	272.675	307.515	28.0	14.9	12.8
Services less energy services	256.612	257.467	258.165	1.8	0.6	0.3
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Index is on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base.
- Data not available. Regions defined as the four Census regions. South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.

 

Last Modified Date: April 15, 2011