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Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Prices in the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 1.0 percent over the 2 months ending in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Alexandra Hall Bovee noted that the March increase was due to a 0.8-percent rise in the all items less food and energy index, in large part due to higher prices for shelter and public transportation. For the same period, the energy index and food index rose, up 6.1 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)
Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U index advanced 3.4 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The all items less food and energy index was mostly responsible for the total increase as it rose 3.5 percent, marking a year since it began to surpass the all items index. Food prices were up 2.5 percent and energy prices were up 4.1 percent over the year. (See table 1.)
FoodFood prices advanced 0.1 percent for the 2-month period ending in March. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home rose 0.5 percent, and prices for food at home were down 0.3 percent in the same period. Within the food at home index, prices decreased 3.2 percent for dairy and related products, the largest decline since November 2020 (-4.0 percent). Also declining were prices for fruits and vegetables (-1.5 percent); meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-0.4 percent); and other food at home (-0.2 percent). Slightly offsetting the reduction in prices for the grocery index was an increase in prices for cereals and bakery products (+2.5 percent); and prices for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+1.1 percent).
Over the year, food prices increased 2.5 percent with prices for food away from home rising 4.7 percent. For the same period, prices for food at home rose 1.0 percent. For the grocery index, rising prices in the other food at home index (+3.4 percent) and the nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials index (+3.7 percent) led the advance. The increase in grocery prices was moderated by the sixth consecutive bi-monthly price decrease for the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index, down 1.6 percent. Also tempering the grocery index was the dairy and related products index, down -1.5 percent, continuing a trend of declines that started in July 2023.
EnergyThe energy index rose 6.1 percent for the 2 months ending in March. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (+10.7 percent). Prices for electricity increased 2.1 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 1.7 percent in the same period.
Energy prices increased 4.1 percent over the year, ending a year of consecutive monthly declines in the index. The advance in the energy index was largely due to higher prices for gasoline, up 3.7 percent. Prices for electricity rose 4.0 percent. The utility (piped) gas service index advanced 8.1 percent—the first 12-month percent increase after a year of monthly declines that ranged from 27.1 percent to 11.2 percent.
All items less food and energyIn the latest 2-month period, the index for all items less food and energy rose 0.8 percent. The overall index rise was led by higher prices for shelter (+1.2 percent), apparel (+4.5 percent), new and used motor vehicles (+0.7 percent), and public transportation. Within the shelter index, increases were reported in prices for lodging away from home, owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+ 0.6 percent), and rent of primary residence (+ 0.8 percent). Prices for used cars and trucks (+ 1.3 percent) contributed to the new and used motor vehicles index rise while new vehicle prices decreased 0.3 percent. Slightly offsetting the all items less food and energy index were declines in the medical care index (-0.6 percent, driven by lower prices for medical care commodities).
For the year ending in March, the index for all items less food and energy increased 3.5 percent, leading the rise were shelter (+4.7 percent) and medical care (+3.7 percent) prices. In the shelter index, owners’ equivalent rent of residences was up 5.7 percent and the index for rent of primary residence advanced 3.2 percent. The only price declines were in apparel (-1.8 percent), new and used motor vehicles (-0.3 percent—the first decline in the index since July 2020), and public transportation.
The May 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria area is scheduled to be released on June 12, 2024.
The Consumer Price Index for Washington-Arlington-Alexandria 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, 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-MD-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.
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.
Expenditure category | Indexes | Percent change from | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Historical data | Jan. 2024 | Feb. 2024 | Mar. 2024 | Mar. 2023 | Jan. 2024 | Feb. 2024 | |
All items | 309.961 | 313.108 | 3.4 | 1.0 | |||
Food and beverages | 305.996 | 306.162 | 2.4 | 0.1 | |||
Food | 315.228 | 315.426 | 2.5 | 0.1 | |||
Food at home | 293.032 | 292.989 | 292.197 | 1.0 | -0.3 | -0.3 | |
Cereals and bakery products | 382.719 | 391.491 | 392.478 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.3 | |
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs | 309.491 | 306.276 | 308.305 | -1.6 | -0.4 | 0.7 | |
Dairy and related products | 292.009 | 292.509 | 282.607 | -1.5 | -3.2 | -3.4 | |
Fruits and vegetables | 306.901 | 303.898 | 302.184 | 0.6 | -1.5 | -0.6 | |
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1) | 262.073 | 265.815 | 264.948 | 3.7 | 1.1 | -0.3 | |
Other food at home | 246.399 | 245.650 | 245.938 | 3.4 | -0.2 | 0.1 | |
Food away from home | 346.199 | 347.858 | 4.7 | 0.5 | |||
Alcoholic beverages | 219.942 | 219.852 | 0.5 | 0.0 | |||
Housing | 324.023 | 327.768 | 4.2 | 1.2 | |||
Shelter | 386.317 | 388.582 | 390.880 | 4.7 | 1.2 | 0.6 | |
Rent of primary residence | 415.673 | 418.175 | 419.086 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.2 | |
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2) | 399.138 | 400.501 | 401.478 | 5.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | |
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2) | 399.138 | 400.501 | 401.478 | 5.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | |
Fuels and utilities | 282.437 | 286.345 | 4.5 | 1.4 | |||
Household energy | 221.222 | 220.022 | 225.471 | 4.3 | 1.9 | 2.5 | |
Energy services | 226.100 | 224.136 | 230.674 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 2.9 | |
Electricity | 250.127 | 249.813 | 255.439 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 2.3 | |
Utility (piped) gas service | 163.484 | 158.174 | 166.265 | 8.1 | 1.7 | 5.1 | |
Household furnishings and operations | 132.114 | 133.076 | 0.8 | 0.7 | |||
Apparel | 157.929 | 165.085 | -1.8 | 4.5 | |||
Transportation | 265.530 | 271.791 | 3.2 | 2.4 | |||
Private transportation | 277.586 | 282.679 | 3.7 | 1.8 | |||
New and used motor vehicles(3) | 126.032 | 126.967 | -0.3 | 0.7 | |||
New vehicles(1) | 229.099 | 228.478 | -0.9 | -0.3 | |||
Used cars and trucks(1) | 389.743 | 394.714 | -1.4 | 1.3 | |||
Motor fuel | 295.940 | 309.504 | 327.587 | 3.7 | 10.7 | 5.8 | |
Gasoline (all types) | 291.629 | 305.003 | 322.860 | 3.7 | 10.7 | 5.9 | |
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4) | 283.288 | 296.984 | 315.198 | 3.8 | 11.3 | 6.1 | |
307.900 | 318.173 | 333.022 | 3.9 | 8.2 | 4.7 | ||
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4) | 324.220 | 334.525 | 348.768 | 3.8 | 7.6 | 4.3 | |
Medical care | 534.928 | 531.637 | 3.7 | -0.6 | |||
Recreation(3) | 128.950 | 129.382 | 1.6 | 0.3 | |||
Education and communication(3) | 166.418 | 166.142 | 1.3 | -0.2 | |||
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(1) | 1,669.910 | 1,688.272 | 6.5 | 1.1 | |||
Other goods and services | 522.206 | 528.631 | 7.6 | 1.2 | |||
Commodity and service group | |||||||
Commodities | 212.623 | 214.297 | 0.5 | 0.8 | |||
Commodities less food and beverages | 167.081 | 169.217 | -0.9 | 1.3 | |||
Nondurables less food and beverages | 218.136 | 224.771 | 1.4 | 3.0 | |||
Durables | 119.120 | 118.523 | -3.2 | -0.5 | |||
Services | 397.245 | 401.770 | 5.0 | 1.1 | |||
Special aggregate indexes | |||||||
All items less shelter | 278.330 | 280.875 | 2.6 | 0.9 | |||
All items less medical care | 299.471 | 302.900 | 3.3 | 1.1 | |||
Commodities less food | 169.257 | 171.304 | -0.9 | 1.2 | |||
Nondurables | 260.914 | 264.396 | 2.0 | 1.3 | |||
Nondurables less food | 217.695 | 223.652 | 1.3 | 2.7 | |||
Services less rent of shelter(2) | 422.033 | 426.549 | 5.4 | 1.1 | |||
Services less medical care services | 384.013 | 388.696 | 5.0 | 1.2 | |||
Energy | 260.849 | 265.746 | 276.662 | 4.1 | 6.1 | 4.1 | |
All items less energy | 317.800 | 320.135 | 3.3 | 0.7 | |||
All items less food and energy | 319.534 | 322.223 | 3.5 | 0.8 | |||
Footnotes |
Last Modified Date: Wednesday, April 10, 2024