The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the St. Louis metropolitan area rose 0.9 percent over the two months ended in June 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that the increase was primarily due to higher prices for electricity (36.1 percent) and food (3.5 percent). Overall, energy costs were up 8.0 percent. The index for all items less food and energy declined 0.3 percent over the two-month period. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 1.0 percent. Prices for food increased 3.6 percent, but costs for energy were 4.8 percent lower. The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.2 percent over the year. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 3.5 percent over the two months ended in June.  Prices for food at home were up 1.8 percent for the period.

Over the year, the food index rose 3.6 percent due to an increase of 8.3 percent in prices for food away from home. A decline of 0.3 percent in prices for food at home did little to moderate the increase.

Energy

The energy index rose 8.0 percent over the two-month period primarily due to a 36.1-percent increase in prices for electricity. Utility (piped) gas service costs were up 0.4 percent. Prices for gasoline declined 3.0 percent but did little to moderate the advance.

Over the year, the energy index declined 4.8 percent. The decrease reflected lower prices for all major components of the index. Prices for gasoline were down 7.5 percent, electricity prices declined 2.8 percent, and utility (piped) gas service costs were 0.8 percent lower over the year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.3 percent during the May-June period. Among the expenditure categories that registered lower prices were apparel (-4.8 percent), recreation (-1.6 percent), and shelter (-0.4 percent), while higher prices for medical care (1.0 percent) helped to offset the decline. 

From June 2018 to June 2019, the index for all items less food and energy rose 1.2 percent led by an increase of 3.1 percent in shelter costs. Over the year, prices for apparel and household furnishings and operation were among those that recorded lower prices, 13.0 percent and 7.3 percent, respectively.

The St. Louis metropolitan area Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) stood at 233.063 in June 2019. A typical market basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in the 1982-84 base period cost $233.06 in June 2019.

CPI-W

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the St. Louis metropolitan area for June 2019 was 231.010.  The CPI-W increased 1.0 percent over the two months and rose 0.8 percent over the year.

The Consumer Price Index for July 2019 is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, August 13, 2019.

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 93 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 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 (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/pdf/homch17.pdf.

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 St. Louis, MO-IL, area covered in this release includes Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois; and 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: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods,
St. Louis, MO-IL (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from -
	Apr. 2019	May 2019	Jun. 2019	Jun. 2018	Apr. 2019	May 2019
All items	230.900	-	233.063	1.0	0.9	-
All items (1967 = 100)	685.811	-	692.235
Food and beverages	253.838	-	262.655	3.4	3.5	-
Food	253.824	-	262.791	3.6	3.5	-
Food at home	227.464	229.676	231.560	-0.3	1.8	0.8
Cereals and bakery products	203.420	-	215.623	-4.9	6.0	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	243.239	-	246.375	-1.7	1.3	-
Dairy and related products	154.485	-	157.827	-1.9	2.2	-
Fruits and vegetables	356.354	-	358.273	6.2	0.5	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	171.294	-	170.544	-1.0	-0.4	-
Other food at home	220.889	-	225.475	-0.7	2.1	-
Food away from home	-	-	313.503	8.3	-	-
Alcoholic beverages	226.148	-	232.359	0.8	2.7	-
Housing	224.788	-	228.267	1.2	1.5	-
Shelter	268.299	268.192	267.227	3.1	-0.4	-0.4
Rent of primary residence	243.981	243.469	243.251	2.2	-0.3	-0.1
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)	278.786	278.765	277.847	2.9	-0.3	-0.3
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)	278.786	278.765	277.847	2.9	-0.3	-0.3
Fuels and utilities	205.700	-	239.377	0.4	16.4	-
Household energy	175.731	175.526	216.598	-2.2	23.3	23.4
Energy services	177.236	176.967	219.519	-2.2	23.9	24.0
Electricity	174.001	174.054	236.756	-2.8	36.1	36.0
Utility (piped) gas service	150.983	150.226	151.610	-0.8	0.4	0.9
Household furnishings and operations	119.467	-	117.734	-7.3	-1.5	-
Apparel	143.685	-	136.795	-13.0	-4.8	-
Transportation	195.030	-	194.162	-2.5	-0.4	-
Private transportation	196.193	-	195.268	-2.3	-0.5	-
New and used motor vehicles(3)	93.087	-	93.604	-0.7	0.6	-
New vehicles(1)	203.498	-	207.071	-3.7	1.8	-
Used cars and trucks(1)	302.163	-	304.310	2.1	0.7	-
Motor fuel	250.730	259.467	243.400	-7.4	-2.9	-6.2
Gasoline (all types)	246.754	255.519	239.465	-7.5	-3.0	-6.3
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	237.276	245.831	230.029	-7.6	-3.1	-6.4
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	293.128	303.941	285.922	-7.1	-2.5	-5.9
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	256.186	263.224	250.983	-6.0	-2.0	-4.7
Motor vehicle insurance(1)	578.479	-	578.479	-0.9	0.0	-
Medical care	459.819	-	464.477	3.8	1.0	-
Recreation(3)	116.212	-	114.326	0.0	-1.6	-
Education and communication(3)	135.352	-	136.291	2.8	0.7	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)	-	-	1,220.553	-	-	-
Other goods and services	-	-	336.512	6.4	-	-
Commodity and service group
Commodities	187.863	-	188.543	-1.4	0.4	-
Commodities less food and beverages	154.563	-	152.190	-4.3	-1.5	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	215.698	-	210.771	-3.7	-2.3	-
Durables	100.568	-	100.054	-5.1	-0.5	-
Services	275.284	-	278.910	2.6	1.3	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter	219.882	-	223.126	0.2	1.5	-
All items less medical care	219.458	-	221.493	0.7	0.9	-
Commodities less food	157.834	-	155.707	-4.0	-1.3	-
Nondurables	235.604	-	237.188	0.0	0.7	-
Nondurables less food	217.617	-	213.453	-3.3	-1.9	-
Services less rent of shelter(2)	290.107	-	298.401	2.2	2.9	-
Services less medical care services	258.480	-	262.030	2.5	1.4	-
Energy	212.017	216.229	228.909	-4.8	8.0	5.9
All items less energy	235.726	-	236.458	1.6	0.3	-
All items less food and energy	232.762	-	232.141	1.2	-0.3	-
Footnotes (1) Indexes on an 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) Index on a December 1993=100.
- Data not available.