The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria increased 1.5 percent for the 2 months ending in May 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that while the May increase was lower than that in March (1.9 percent), it reflected broad-based increases within the all items less food and energy index, up 1.0 percent. The energy index, up 7.9 percent, and the food index, up 1.6 percent, also contributed to the increase. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U was up 7.5 percent, the largest over-the-year increase since January 1982. The rise was due mostly to a 5.7-percent increase in the all items less food and energy index, which moderated slightly after posting a 6.0 percent rise in March. (See chart 1 and table A.) The energy index was up 32.0 percent over the year due mainly to a 49.8 percent advance in gasoline prices. Food prices jumped 8.4 percent, representing the highest 12-month rise since the series started in January 1999. (See table 1.)

Food

The food index advanced 1.6 percent over the last 2 months. Prices for food at home increased 2.4 percent, moderating after a 3.4 percent jump in March, while those for food away from home increased 0.4 percent following a 1.5 percent drop in March. Within the food at home component, over a third of the hike was due to the other food at home index, up 3.3 percent, reflecting higher prices for frozen and freeze dried prepared foods as well as candy and chewing gum. Higher prices for chicken helped push the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index up 3.1 percent and fruits and vegetables, up 1.9 percent, included higher prices for citrus fruits. The dairy and related products index (-0.1 percent) was the only major component to decline since March.  

The 8.4 percent over-the-year food price was the highest increase in 23 years.  That jump reflected higher prices for both food at home (12.1 percent) – also the highest increase since the series started in January 1999 – and food away from home (4.2 percent) although that was the smallest increase since July 2020. Higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, up 13.5 percent; other food at home, up 11.7 percent; and fruits and vegetables, up 10.5 percent, led the general rise in grocery prices.

Energy

Since March, the energy index, which includes prices for household and transportation fuels, increased 7.9 percent. Nearly two-thirds of the increase was due to higher gasoline prices, up 9.5 percent, well below the 23.3 percent jump in March. Utility (piped) gas service, up 14.9 percent, and electricity prices, up 1.8 percent, also contributed to the energy index increase.

Energy prices rose 32.0 percent since May 2021. After posting over-the-year declines from March 2020 through January 2021, the index has been consistently higher, and this is the largest increase since September 2005. Higher gasoline prices accounted for three-fourths of the 12-month increase in the energy index and the 49.8 percent jump was the highest since November’s peak of 52.3 percent. Over the year, utility (piped) gas service prices advanced 21.9 percent and electricity prices were up 10.0 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.0 percent since March due to moderating prices for shelter (0.7 percent), medical care (1.5 percent), and new and used motor vehicles (1.4 percent), although public transportation prices rose faster than in March. A decrease in apparel prices (-3.4 percent) offset some of the all items less food and energy index gains.

Since May 2021, the index for all items less food and energy rose 5.7 percent over the year, down from the 6.0 rate in March. Shelter prices accelerated however, up 3.9 percent, the largest 12-month rise since June 2012, as owners’ equivalent rent of residences advanced 3.6 percent and household furnishings and operations was up 10.3 percent. New and used motor vehicles prices moderated to a 16.2 percent increase, down from a series high (25.9 percent) in March, as the used cars and trucks and new vehicles indexes each moderated. The 17.0 percent over-the-year increase in used cars and trucks prices was the smallest increase since March 2021 – it peaked at 41.9 percent in July – and the new vehicles increase was the lowest since July. Medical care advanced 7.4 since May 2021, having accelerated from 0.7 percent a year ago. The increases in the all items less food and energy index were offset by a 1.4 percent decrease in the apparel index, the first decline in over a year.

Table A. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, CPI-U 2-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month	2-month	12-month
January	0.9	2.2	0.5	0.8	0.5	1.6	0.7	1.5	0.9	6.0
March	-0.1	1.8	0.7	1.6	-0.4	0.4	0.7	2.6	1.9	7.3
May	0.7	2.5	0.6	1.6	0.1	-0.1	1.3	3.8	1.5	7.5
July	0.1	2.5	-0.3	1.2	0.6	0.8	1.2	4.4
September	0.4	2.0	0.1	0.9	0.6	1.2	0.7	4.5
November	-0.7	1.3	-0.2	1.5	0.0	1.4	1.2	5.8

The July 2022 Consumer Price Index for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area is scheduled to be released on August 10, 2022.

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 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 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MA-WV, Core Based Statistical Area includes the District of Columbia; the counties of Calvert, Charles, Frederick, Montgomery, and Prince George’s in Maryland; the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, Falls Church, Fredericksburg, Manassas, and Manassas Park and the counties of Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Loudoun, Prince William, Rappahannock, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren in Virginia; and the county of Jefferson in West Virginia.

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Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV, (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	Mar. 2022	Apr. 2022	May 2022	May 2021	Mar. 2022	Apr. 2022
All items		292.227		296.559	7.5	1.5
Food and beverages		282.973		287.290	8.1	1.5
Food		290.945		295.510	8.4	1.6
Food at home		275.734	280.560	282.316	12.1	2.4	0.6
Cereals and bakery products		362.487		369.378	14.7	1.9
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		309.689		319.150	13.5	3.1
Dairy and related products		269.076		268.838	8.9	-0.1
Fruits and vegetables		285.994		291.366	10.5	1.9
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		241.745		247.974	13.5	2.6
Other food at home		224.295		231.785	11.7	3.3
Food away from home		309.828		311.206	4.2	0.4
Alcoholic beverages		209.290		211.139	4.9	0.9
Housing		299.173		301.741	5.4	0.9
Shelter		354.604	355.432	357.027	3.9	0.7	0.4
Rent of primary residence		381.529	382.783	384.095	2.0	0.7	0.3
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		361.884	362.667	363.284	3.6	0.4	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		361.884	362.667	363.284	3.6	0.4	0.2
Fuels and utilities		258.005		269.799	10.4	4.6
Household energy		203.599	209.025	215.560	14.4	5.9	3.1
Energy services		206.688	211.684	218.483	13.3	5.7	3.2
Electricity		217.366	216.988	221.352	10.0	1.8	2.0
Utility (piped) gas service		173.331	188.130	199.079	21.9	14.9	5.8
Household furnishings and operations		127.765		127.406	10.3	-0.3
Apparel		160.063		154.652	-1.4	-3.4
Transportation		259.648		272.233	17.9	4.8
Private transportation		270.658		280.920	19.1	3.8
New and used motor vehicles(3)		123.039		124.823	16.2	1.4
New vehicles(1)		219.582		222.495	9.4	1.3
Used cars and trucks(1)		450.712		450.344	17.0	-0.1
Motor fuel		385.173	381.933	422.470	50.2	9.7	10.6
Gasoline (all types)		380.597	377.111	416.926	49.8	9.5	10.6
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		374.011	370.044	410.040	50.8	9.6	10.8
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		378.075	379.569	412.523	44.9	9.1	8.7
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		387.758	388.332	422.068	42.5	8.8	8.7
Motor vehicle insurance(1)
Medical care		526.961		534.705	7.4	1.5
Recreation(3)		121.941		122.920	4.1	0.8
Education and communication(3)		161.195		161.204	2.6	0.0
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,505.055		1,504.959	3.9	0.0
Other goods and services		466.406		479.001	8.3	2.7
Commodity and service group
Commodities		209.927		212.586	11.2	1.3
Commodities less food and beverages		171.904		173.822	13.1	1.1
Nondurables less food and beverages		226.459		231.433	15.7	2.2
Durables		121.653		121.724	11.1	0.1
Services		364.831		370.708	5.4	1.6
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		266.431		271.494	9.4	1.9
All items less medical care		281.120		285.290	7.5	1.5
Commodities less food		173.644		175.567	12.7	1.1
Nondurables		254.015		258.671	11.6	1.8
Nondurables less food		224.549		229.276	14.8	2.1
Services less rent of shelter(2)		388.384		398.868	6.9	2.7
Services less medical care services		348.657		354.127	5.1	1.6
Energy		285.059	287.285	307.641	32.0	7.9	7.1
All items less energy		297.062		300.240	6.2	1.1
All items less food and energy		299.284		302.247	5.7	1.0
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a November 1977=100 base. (2) Indexes on a November 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.