Prices in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), decreased 0.2 percent for the 2 months ending in October 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted this was the first bi-monthly decline since December 2022 and attributed it in large part to lower prices for gasoline. The all items less food and energy index decreased 0.1 percent, down for the first time since February 2021, and the food index was up 0.2 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 2.2 percent, mostly due to a 2.4-percent rise in the all items less food and energy index although that 2.4 percent increase continued a trend of moderating prices following August 2022 when it peaked at 8.8 percent. The food index increased 2.2 percent, the smallest increase in over 2 years, and the energy index was up 0.6 percent, the smallest rise since August 2013. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

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

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Oct 2023	2.2	2.4

Food prices increased 0.2 percent for the 2 months ending in October 2023. The food at home index increased 0.2 percent due to higher prices for dairy and related products (3.5 percent), nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (3.0 percent), fruits and vegetables (1.6 percent) and cereals and bakery products (1.2 percent). Offsetting the rise were decreases in the other food at home (-2.6 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-0.8 percent) indexes. The food away from home index was up 0.3 percent.

Over the year, the food index rose 2.2 percent as prices for food away from home were up 5.5 percent. The food at home index increased 0.4 percent, led by higher prices for other food at home (up 2.4 percent, the smallest increase since August 2021). Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials advanced 3.3 percent, dairy and related products were up 1.5 percent, and cereals and bakery product prices rose 0.8 percent in the same period. Falling prices for fruits and vegetables (-2.4 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.3 percent) tempered the overall increase.

In October, the energy index decreased 2.6 percent, down after its largest increase since the year began at 4.8 percent in August, as its components displayed continued variability. The October decrease was mainly due to falling gasoline prices, down 10.8 percent—the largest price decrease of the year so far. The utility (piped) gas service index also contributed to the energy index decline, decreasing 1.4 percent in October. The electricity index was up 4.9 percent—the largest price increase since the year began. 

From October 2022 to October 2023 the energy index gained 0.6 percent, the smallest increase since August 2013. The increase was largely due to rising prices for electricity, up 13.6 percent–the latest in an unbroken string of double-digit 12-month increases since August 2022. Offsetting the overall energy index rise was the gasoline index, down 8.1 percent, and the utility (piped) gas service index, down 17.0 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.1 percent in the latest 2-month period, marking the first decrease since February 2021. The decrease was due in large part to lower prices for household furnishings and operations (down 6.6 percent, the largest decline in the index since it began in 1998) and new and used motor vehicles (down 1.7 percent) as prices for used cars and trucks and new vehicles fell 6.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. The shelter index rose 1.0 percent as the index increased for rent of primary residence (1.0 percent), owners' equivalent rent of residence (0.9 percent) and lodging away from home. Apparel prices rose 3.4 percent while medical care prices were up 0.4 percent in the same period.

Over the year, the all items less food and energy advanced 2.4 percent, continuing a trend of moderating prices that began after August 2022. Shelter prices were up 5.1 percent, largely due to a 5.2-percent rise in the owners’ equivalent rent of residences index and a 6.6-percent increase in rent of primary residence. Lodging away from home prices fell; household furnishings and operation prices decreased 4.2 percent in the same period. Other components contributing to the overall all items less food and energy index increase were higher prices for other goods and services (5.9 percent), medical care (1.2 percent--driven primarily by increasing medical care commodity prices), and recreation (1.9 percent). New and used motor vehicles prices, down 1.2 percent due to prices for used cars and trucks decreasing 6.7 percent, countered the overall increase.

The December 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area is scheduled to be released on January 11, 2024.

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	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023	Oct. 2023	Oct. 2022	Aug. 2023	Sep. 2023
All items		307.978		307.284	2.2	-0.2
Food and beverages		326.189		326.809	2.3	0.2
Food		326.131		326.807	2.2	0.2
Food at home		289.406	291.728	289.920	0.4	0.2	-0.6
Cereals and bakery products		352.860	352.370	357.048	0.8	1.2	1.3
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		294.867	290.073	292.503	-1.3	-0.8	0.8
Dairy and related products		273.233	288.000	282.852	1.5	3.5	-1.8
Fruits and vegetables		310.736	318.568	315.620	-2.4	1.6	-0.9
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		217.335	223.239	223.751	3.3	3.0	0.2
Other food at home		276.557	276.163	269.291	2.4	-2.6	-2.5
Food away from home		376.732		377.704	5.5	0.3
Alcoholic beverages		323.220		322.955	4.6	-0.1
Housing(1)		308.202		309.799	4.4	0.5
Shelter		358.991	361.237	362.656	5.1	1.0	0.4
Rent of primary residence		416.262	417.375	420.344	6.6	1.0	0.7
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		378.468	380.002	381.739	5.2	0.9	0.5
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		378.468	380.002	381.739	5.2	0.9	0.5
Fuels and utilities		300.826		313.915	9.0	4.4
Household energy		265.058	258.552	278.542	9.0	5.1	7.7
Energy services		285.680	275.753	298.264	11.0	4.4	8.2
Electricity		270.879	261.234	284.251	13.6	4.9	8.8
Utility (piped) gas service		208.678	203.365	205.814	-17.0	-1.4	1.2
Household furnishings and operations		145.198		135.672	-4.2	-6.6
Apparel		130.776		135.165	1.8	3.4
Transportation		278.513		271.413	-2.3	-2.5
Private transportation		285.717		277.569	-2.3	-2.9
New and used motor vehicles(3)		140.506		138.090	-1.2	-1.7
New vehicles(1)		281.046		280.060	1.2	-0.4
Used cars and trucks(1)		346.110		324.583	-6.7	-6.2
Motor fuel		330.417	316.968	295.506	-8.2	-10.6	-6.8
Gasoline (all types)		322.612	309.046	287.874	-8.1	-10.8	-6.9
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		326.794	312.810	290.528	-8.4	-11.1	-7.1
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		345.556	332.586	314.018	-6.5	-9.1	-5.6
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		328.861	316.753	301.371	-5.5	-8.4	-4.9
Medical care		498.532		500.665	1.2	0.4
Recreation		142.613		142.146	1.9	-0.3
Education and communication(3)		162.404		161.757	0.9	-0.4
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,353.793		1,368.306	4.0	1.1
Other goods and services		525.665		526.932	5.9	0.2
Commodity and service group
Commodities		234.010		229.592	-0.4	-1.9
Commodities less food and beverages		191.292		185.656	-1.7	-2.9
Nondurables less food and beverages		239.584		233.307	-1.0	-2.6
Durables		138.282		133.920	-1.6	-3.2
Services		379.496		382.958	3.8	0.9
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		289.496		286.983	0.8	-0.9
All items less medical care		298.507		297.675	2.3	-0.3
Commodities less food		195.478		189.885	-1.5	-2.9
Nondurables		278.699		275.838	0.6	-1.0
Nondurables less food		244.119		238.177	-0.7	-2.4
Services less rent of shelter(2)		415.655		418.812	2.2	0.8
Services less medical care services		368.094		371.909	4.4	1.0
Energy(1)		304.289	294.400	296.321	0.6	-2.6	0.7
All items less energy		310.251		310.120	2.4	0.0
All items less food and energy		307.881		307.628	2.4	-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.