Prices in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.5 percent for the 2 months ending in August 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted the rise was due to the energy index which tracked its largest increase since the year began, up 4.8 percent, led by higher prices for gasoline. The all items less food and energy index advanced 0.1 percent and the food index was up 0.4 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.) (See table A.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 3.1 percent, mostly due to a 3.1-percent rise in the all items less food and energy index. The food index increased 4.2 percent, the smallest increase in over a year and a half, and the energy index increased 2.4 percent after declining 11.9 percent over the year in June. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, August 2020–August 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Aug 2020	0.7	0.8
Oct 2020	1.3	1.3
Dec 2020	1.4	1.5
Feb 2021	1.1	0.9
Apr 2021	2.9	2.5
Jun 2021	4.5	4.0
Aug 2021	4.5	3.5
Oct 2021	6.3	5.3
Dec 2021	8.0	6.5
Feb 2022	9.3	7.6
Apr 2022	9.1	7.1
Jun 2022	10.6	7.9
Aug 2022	10.2	8.8
Oct 2022	8.4	7.0
Dec 2022	6.3	5.6
Feb 2023	6.1	5.8
Apr 2023	5.3	5.4
Jun 2023	2.8	4.2
Aug 2023	3.1	3.1

Food prices increased 0.4 percent for the 2 months ending in August 2023. The food at home index mostly contributed to the rise, up 0.6 percent due to higher prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (1.6 percent, the largest increase since the year began), other food at home (0.7 percent), and nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (1.5 percent). Fruits and vegetables prices were up 0.2 percent and food away from home prices advanced 0.1 percent. Offsetting the increases were cereals and bakery products prices, down 1.0 percent, and prices for dairy and related products, down 0.6 percent.

Over the year, the food index rose 4.2 percent as prices for food away from home were up 6.9 percent. The food at home index increased 2.7 percent led by higher prices for other food at home (8.6 percent). Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials advanced 8.8 percent. Prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 0.1 percent—the smallest over-the-year increase since the series began in 2018. The dairy and related products index rose 0.7 percent, well below February’s 10.1-percent rise; price increases have been decelerating since October 2022. Increases were tempered by a 1.1-percent decrease in fruits and vegetables prices and declining prices for cereals and bakery products (-1.4 percent).

In August, the energy index increased 4.8 percent, the largest increase since the year began. The rise was mainly due to advancing gasoline prices, up 9.4 percent — also the largest price increase of the year so far. The utility (piped) gas service index rose 5.2 percent after three consecutive bi-monthly declines this year. The electricity index was up 0.1 percent—the smallest 2-month price increase since December 2020.

From August 2022 to August 2023 the energy index gained 2.4 percent over the year. The increase was largely due to rising prices for electricity, up 17.7 percent – in line with a virtually unbroken string of double-digit 12-month increases from the end of 2021 through August. Offsetting the overall index was the gasoline index, down 2.9 percent, and the utility (piped) gas service index, down 29.4 percent—the largest over-the-year decline since 2009.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.1 percent in the latest 2-month period due in large part to higher prices for shelter (up 0.8 percent), household furnishings and operations (up 1.7 percent), and education and communication (up 1.1 percent). Within shelter, prices increased for the owners' equivalent rent of residences index (up 0.9 percent) and the rent of primary residence index (up 1.3 percent). Lodging away from home prices fell. Within the education and communication index, prices for tuition, other school fees, and childcare increased 2.9 percent —the largest price rise since August 2021 (3.1 percent). Moderating the overall increase were lower prices for medical care (down 3.6 percent— the largest decline since June 2020), used cars and trucks (down 1.9 percent), and public transportation.

Over the year, the all items less food and energy advanced 3.1 percent. Shelter prices were up 4.5 percent largely due to a 4.9-percent rise in the owners’ equivalent rent of residences index and a 5.2 percent increase in rent of primary residence. Lodging away from home prices fell while household furnishings and operation prices increased 4.4 percent in the same period. Other components contributing to the overall increase were higher prices for recreation (3.2 percent), other goods and services (6.3 percent), and new vehicles (2.7 percent). Medical care and prices for used cars and trucks countered the overall increase, down 1.0 percent and 7.0 percent respectively.

The October 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area is scheduled to be released on November 14, 2023.

The Consumer Price Index for Baltimore-Columbia-Towson is published bi-monthly. 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 5,000 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 Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, Core Based Statistical Area includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, and Queen Anne’s counties, as well as Baltimore City, in Maryland.

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.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD, (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted) (not seasonally adjusted)

Expenditure category	Indexes				Percent change from
	Historical data	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023	Aug. 2023	Aug. 2022	Jun. 2023	Jul. 2023
All items		306.506		307.978	3.1	0.5
Food and beverages		324.946		326.189	4.4	0.4
Food		324.755		326.131	4.2	0.4
Food at home		287.722	291.361	289.406	2.7	0.6	-0.7
Cereals and bakery products		356.526	359.878	352.860	-1.4	-1.0	-2.0
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		290.103	292.914	294.867	0.1	1.6	0.7
Dairy and related products		275.015	276.545	273.233	0.7	-0.6	-1.2
Fruits and vegetables		310.077	314.433	310.736	-1.1	0.2	-1.2
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		214.161	224.150	217.335	8.8	1.5	-3.0
Other food at home		274.650	275.718	276.557	8.6	0.7	0.3
Food away from home		376.173		376.732	6.9	0.1
Alcoholic beverages		324.038		323.220	7.6	-0.3
Housing(1)		305.274		308.202	4.9	1.0
Shelter		356.180	358.261	358.991	4.5	0.8	0.2
Rent of primary residence		410.981	413.265	416.262	5.2	1.3	0.7
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		375.110	376.430	378.468	4.9	0.9	0.5
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		375.110	376.430	378.468	4.9	0.9	0.5
Fuels and utilities		296.353		300.826	8.3	1.5
Household energy		263.305	263.775	265.058	7.7	0.7	0.5
Energy services		284.270	285.156	285.680	10.3	0.5	0.2
Electricity		270.650	270.879	270.879	17.7	0.1	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service		198.369	204.133	208.678	-29.4	5.2	2.2
Household furnishings and operations		142.768		145.198	4.4	1.7
Apparel		131.112		130.776	2.0	-0.3
Transportation		275.872		278.513	0.2	1.0
Private transportation		281.972		285.717	-0.3	1.3
New and used motor vehicles(3)		141.298		140.506	0.3	-0.6
New vehicles(1)		281.281		281.046	2.7	-0.1
Used cars and trucks(1)		352.829		346.110	-7.0	-1.9
Motor fuel		301.808	315.199	330.417	-2.9	9.5	4.8
Gasoline (all types)		294.969	308.153	322.612	-2.9	9.4	4.7
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		298.745	312.239	326.794	-2.9	9.4	4.7
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		317.648	329.741	345.556	-3.1	8.8	4.8
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		300.836	313.438	328.861	-2.0	9.3	4.9
Medical care		516.911		498.532	-1.0	-3.6
Recreation		142.026		142.613	3.2	0.4
Education and communication(3)		160.585		162.404	1.6	1.1
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,315.636		1,353.793	3.1	2.9
Other goods and services		521.169		525.665	6.3	0.9
Commodity and service group
Commodities		232.294		234.010	1.9	0.7
Commodities less food and beverages		189.546		191.292	0.8	0.9
Nondurables less food and beverages		233.166		239.584	1.4	2.8
Durables		138.573		138.282	0.9	-0.2
Services		378.345		379.496	3.8	0.3
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		288.567		289.496	2.4	0.3
All items less medical care		296.067		298.507	3.5	0.8
Commodities less food		193.762		195.478	1.0	0.9
Nondurables		274.865		278.699	2.6	1.4
Nondurables less food		238.104		244.119	1.7	2.5
Services less rent of shelter(2)		417.027		415.655	2.7	-0.3
Services less medical care services		365.193		368.094	4.6	0.8
Energy(1)		290.297	296.642	304.289	2.4	4.8	2.6
All items less energy		309.747		310.251	3.2	0.2
All items less food and energy		307.511		307.881	3.1	0.1
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a March 1978=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.