The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., metropolitan area rose 0.7 percent from the second half of 2013 to the second half of 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. This is the smallest annual increase since 2009. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the increase was led by higher prices for food and shelter, but was moderated by lower motor fuel costs. Costs for energy declined 3.5 percent over the year, food prices advanced 3.8 percent, and the all items less food and energy index increased 0.8 percent.  

Food

Food prices rose 3.8 percent from the second half of 2013 to the second half of 2014. Costs for food at home were up 2.4 percent and prices for food away from home were 5.4 percent higher over the year. During the same period one year ago, these indexes rose 3.1 and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Energy

The energy index, which includes motor fuel and household fuels, was down 3.5 percent from the second half of 2013 to the second half of 2014, after registering little movement (0.1 percent) in the same period one year ago. Motor fuel prices fell 8.7 percent with all of the decrease occurring in the most recent six months of the period. In contrast, costs for utility (piped) gas service advanced 5.3 percent, and prices for electricity were little changed (0.1 percent) over the year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.8 percent from the second half of 2013 to the second half of 2014, the smallest over-the-year gain since 2006. Among the expenditure categories posting higher costs were shelter (1.9 percent) and medical care (2.5 percent). In contrast, the index for education and communication (-2.3 percent) was among the components that registered lower prices over the year.

The St. Louis CPI-U stood at 219.994 for the second half of 2014. This means that a market basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in 1982-84 cost $219.99 in the second half of 2014. Because metropolitan area CPI data are not adjusted for seasonal price variation, consumers and businesses should be cautious in drawing conclusions about long-term retail price trends from short-term changes in the metropolitan area indexes.

CPI-W

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., metropolitan area for the second half of 2014 was 219.353. The CPI-W increased 0.4 percent from the second half of 2013 to the second half of 2014.

The Consumer Price Index for the First Half of 2015 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, August 19, 2015.

Technical Note

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 88 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 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/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 areas; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., area covered in this release includes Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair Counties in Illinois; and Crawford (part), Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren Counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 1-800-877-8339.