Prices in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.6 percent for the two months ending in August 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that the energy index rose 2.2 percent, and the food index added 0.1 percent from June to August. The all items less food and energy index increased 0.6 percent over the past two months largely due to gains in the shelter, recreation, and education and communication indexes. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 5.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy rose 7.7 percent over the year. Food prices increased 3.0 percent. Energy prices declined 4.8 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline.

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, August 2020–August 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Aug 2020	1.8	2.8
Oct 2020	0.5	0.9
Dec 2020	0.7	1.3
Feb 2021	0.8	0.2
Apr 2021	5.4	3.5
Jun 2021	5.4	3.8
Aug 2021	3.9	1.9
Oct 2021	5.5	3.5
Dec 2021	7.0	5.0
Feb 2022	7.5	6.2
Apr 2022	8.3	6.3
Jun 2022	9.7	6.1
Aug 2022	8.6	6.7
Oct 2022	8.5	6.2
Dec 2022	6.2	5.5
Feb 2023	7.0	6.8
Apr 2023	6.6	7.6
Jun 2023	4.7	7.8
Aug 2023	5.9	7.7

Food prices increased 0.1 percent for the two months ending in August. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home (groceries) were unchanged, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) were up 0.2 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices increased 3.0 percent. Five of six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the year. The index for other food at home (includes sugar, sweets, fats, and oils, for example) rose 2.6 percent, nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials increased 5.3 percent, and cereals and bakery products advanced 3.9 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 4.5 percent.

The energy index increased 2.2 percent for the two months ending in August. The gain was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (5.2 percent). Prices for electricity increased 0.4 percent, while prices for utility (piped) gas service decreased 1.4 percent for the same period.

Energy prices declined 4.8 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-5.0 percent) and utility (piped) gas service (-16.6 percent). Prices paid for electricity increased 7.7 percent compared to last August.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for shelter (2.0 percent), recreation (1.6 percent), and education and communication (1.5 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for household furnishings and operations (-5.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 7.7 percent. A 13.4 percent increase in the shelter index was the largest contributing factor.

The October 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn area is scheduled to be released on November 14, 2023.

The Consumer Price Index for Detroit 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 population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

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 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, Core Based Statistical Area consolidated area covered in this release is comprised of Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties in Michigan.

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.