Prices in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), decreased 0.3 percent for the 2 months ending in December 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted this was the second consecutive bi-monthly decline and attributed it to in large part lower prices for gasoline. The all items less food and energy index also decreased 0.3 percent, down for the second time since February 2021, and the food index was up 0.9 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 2.1 percent mostly due to a 2.0 percent rise in the all items less food and energy index, continuing a trend of moderating prices following August 2022 when it peaked at 8.8 percent. The food index increased 2.5 percent and the energy index was up 2.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

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

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Dec 2023	2.1	2.0

Food prices increased 0.9 percent for the 2 months ending in December 2023. The food at home index increased 1.0 percent due to higher prices for fruits and vegetables (3.7 percent – marking the largest increase of 2023), meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (1.0 percent), dairy and related products (0.1 percent), and other food at home (0.7 percent). Offsetting the rise were decreases in the nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (-0.8 percent), and cereals and bakery products (-0.6 percent) indexes. The food away from home index was up 0.8 percent.

Over the year, the food index rose 2.5 percent as prices for food away from home were up 4.0 percent. The food at home index increased 1.7 percent, led by higher prices for other food at home, up 3.7 percent. The nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials index advanced 3.8 percent, dairy and related products was up 3.6 percent, and prices for fruits and vegetables rose 3.0 percent; ending the pattern of consecutive fruits and vegetables price declines that started in April. Cereal and bakery product prices rose 0.7 percent in the same period. The decline for meats, poultry, fish and eggs (-2.6 percent) was the largest price decrease for this index since April 2021 and it tempered the overall food index increase.

In December, the energy index decreased 3.0 percent, down after a 4.8-percent increase in August, and marks the second published month of bi-monthly price declines. The December energy index decrease was mainly due to falling gasoline prices, down 5.5 percent after decreasing 10.8 percent in October; and prices paid for electricity, down 1.4 percent. The utility (piped) gas service index offset the energy index decline, increasing 7.5 percent in the same period.

From December 2022 to December 2023 the energy index gained 2.0 percent. The increase was largely due to a rise in prices for electricity, up 9.3 percent—breaking the continuous string of double-digit over-the-year increases that started in August 2022. Offsetting the overall energy index rise was the utility (piped) gas service index, down 21.0 percent and the gasoline index, down 0.8 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.3 percent in December, marking only the second index price decrease since February 2021. The decrease was due in large part to lower prices for apparel (down 13.1 percent), new and used motor vehicles (down 1.2 percent due to the same decline in the index for new vehicles), medical care (down 0.9 percent), declines in lodging away from home prices, and household furnishings and operations (down 0.6 percent) in the same period. Tempering the declines were other categories in the housing index. The shelter index rose 0.4 percent as the index increased for owners' equivalent rent of residence (0.8 percent) and rent of primary residence (0.7 percent). Recreation advanced 2.2 percent for the two months ending in December.

Over the year, the all items less food and energy index advanced 2.0 percent, continuing a trend of moderating prices that started after August 2022’s peak of 8.8 percent. Shelter prices were up 5.2 percent, largely due to a 5.2-percent rise in the owners’ equivalent rent of residences index and a 6.5-percent increase in prices paid for rent of primary residence. The recreation index advanced 5.1 percent. The medical care index had its largest decline since June 2021, down 3.2 percent due to a decrease in prices paid for medical care services. Household furnishings and operation prices declined 5.2 percent. New and used motor vehicles prices were down 0.7 percent due to prices for used cars and trucks decreasing 1.3 percent, also countered the overall increase.

The February 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson area is scheduled to be released on March 12, 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	Oct. 2023	Nov. 2023	Dec. 2023	Dec. 2022	Oct. 2023	Nov. 2023
All items		307.284		306.379	2.1	-0.3
Food and beverages		326.809		329.541	2.5	0.8
Food		326.807		329.687	2.5	0.9
Food at home		289.920	289.219	292.696	1.7	1.0	1.2
Cereals and bakery products		357.048	350.552	355.060	0.7	-0.6	1.3
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs		292.503	292.187	295.366	-2.6	1.0	1.1
Dairy and related products		282.852	286.232	283.004	3.6	0.1	-1.1
Fruits and vegetables		315.620	316.394	327.227	3.0	3.7	3.4
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)		223.751	215.521	221.943	3.8	-0.8	3.0
Other food at home		269.291	272.085	271.210	3.7	0.7	-0.3
Food away from home		377.704		380.543	4.0	0.8
Alcoholic beverages		322.955		323.362	2.2	0.1
Housing(1)		309.799		310.417	4.1	0.2
Shelter		362.656	363.776	364.235	5.2	0.4	0.1
Rent of primary residence		420.344	422.455	423.139	6.5	0.7	0.2
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)		381.739	383.759	384.851	5.2	0.8	0.3
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)		381.739	383.759	384.851	5.2	0.8	0.3
Fuels and utilities		313.915		311.183	5.2	-0.9
Household energy		278.542	275.265	276.017	4.7	-0.9	0.3
Energy services		298.264	294.506	296.329	5.8	-0.6	0.6
Electricity		284.251	279.547	280.395	9.3	-1.4	0.3
Utility (piped) gas service		205.814	212.616	221.315	-21.0	7.5	4.1
Household furnishings and operations		135.672		134.895	-5.2	-0.6
Apparel		135.165		117.480	-6.1	-13.1
Transportation		271.413		268.340	0.0	-1.1
Private transportation		277.569		274.843	0.1	-1.0
New and used motor vehicles(3)		138.090		136.382	-0.7	-1.2
New vehicles(1)		280.060		276.829	0.2	-1.2
Used cars and trucks(1)		324.583		326.969	-1.3	0.7
Motor fuel		295.506	286.000	279.233	-1.2	-5.5	-2.4
Gasoline (all types)		287.874	278.629	272.095	-0.8	-5.5	-2.3
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)		290.528	280.935	274.361	-1.0	-5.6	-2.3
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)		314.018	305.266	298.168	-0.4	-5.0	-2.3
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)		301.371	293.659	286.650	0.3	-4.9	-2.4
Medical care		500.665		495.950	-3.2	-0.9
Recreation		142.146		145.291	5.1	2.2
Education and communication(3)		161.757		161.884	1.0	0.1
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1)		1,368.306		1,368.306	4.0	0.0
Other goods and services		526.932		520.672	2.4	-1.2
Commodity and service group
Commodities		229.592		226.939	0.0	-1.2
Commodities less food and beverages		185.656		181.566	-1.3	-2.2
Nondurables less food and beverages		233.307		223.140	0.5	-4.4
Durables		133.920		132.816	-2.3	-0.8
Services		382.958		384.026	3.5	0.3
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter		286.983		285.039	0.5	-0.7
All items less medical care		297.675		296.957	2.5	-0.2
Commodities less food		189.885		185.838	-1.2	-2.1
Nondurables		275.838		272.042	1.7	-1.4
Nondurables less food		238.177		228.597	0.6	-4.0
Services less rent of shelter(2)		418.812		419.085	1.1	0.1
Services less medical care services		371.909		373.618	4.6	0.5
Energy(1)		296.321	290.101	287.472	2.0	-3.0	-0.9
All items less energy		310.120		309.830	2.1	-0.1
All items less food and energy		307.628		306.856	2.0	-0.3
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.