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News Release Information

22-854-KAN
Wednesday, May 11, 2022

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (816) 285-7000

Consumer Price Index, St. Louis area – April 2022

Area prices rose 2.3 percent in March and April, up 8.4 percent over the year ago

Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 2.3 percent for the two months ending in April 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the food index rose 3.5 percent, and the energy index increased 11.7 percent in March and April. The all items less food and energy index increased 1.2 percent over the past two months.  Among the indexes within the all items less food and energy sector, prices were higher for shelter and recreation. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 8.4 percent. (See chart 1.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 5.7 percent over the year. Energy prices jumped 28.8 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline, while food prices advanced 14.2 percent. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 3.5 percent for the two months ending in April. Prices for food at home advanced 3.0 percent, and prices for food away from home rose 4.2 percent for the same period.

From April 2021 to April 2022, food prices jumped 14.2 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 18.9 percent, while prices for food at home increased 11.0 percent over the year.

Energy

The energy index jumped 11.7 percent for the two months ending in April. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (+18.9 percent), but all energy components contributed to the rise. Prices for electricity increased 5.2 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 1.5 percent for the same period.

Energy prices jumped 28.8 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+45.7 percent), but all energy components contributed to the rise. Prices paid for natural gas service increased 18.6 percent during the past year, while prices for electricity rose 8.6 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.2 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for shelter (+1.0 percent), recreation (+3.2 percent), and medical care (+1.3 percent) were among the largest contributors to the rise. Partially offsetting these increases were lower prices for used cars and trucks (-2.8 percent), education and communication (-0.6 percent), and apparel (-1.2 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 5.7 percent. Components most contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+5.8 percent), new and used motor vehicles (+15.4 percent), and household furnishings and operations (+8.0 percent).

The June 2022 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on July 13, 2022.


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 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 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 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 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,
St. Louis, MO-IL (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and GroupIndexesPercent change from -
Feb.
2022
Mar.
2022
Apr.
2022
Apr.
2021
Feb.
2022
Mar.
2022

All items

256.458-262.2968.42.3-

All items (1967 = 100)

761.724-779.064   

Food and beverages

293.221-303.40413.33.5-

Food

292.335-302.56814.23.5-

Food at home

264.645271.194272.71611.03.00.6

Cereals and bakery products

222.858-229.4433.53.0-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

295.588-291.81711.1-1.3-

Dairy and related products

166.288-171.1657.02.9-

Fruits and vegetables

395.897-411.9268.74.0-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

190.213-203.63314.57.1-

Other food at home

269.395-280.47614.44.1-

Food away from home

338.856-353.09318.94.2-

Alcoholic beverages

270.516-278.9913.73.1-

Housing

247.101-249.8206.41.1-

Shelter

292.140293.786294.9755.71.00.4

Rent of primary residence

267.137266.721268.2804.50.40.6

Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)

306.049306.602308.7315.80.90.7

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)

306.049306.602308.7315.80.90.7

Fuels and utilities

234.832-241.3189.02.8-

Household energy

201.491206.436209.06312.23.81.3

Energy services

202.965207.593210.39512.03.71.3

Electricity

185.283192.525194.9708.65.21.3

Utility (piped) gas service

197.090197.174200.06118.61.51.5

Household furnishings and operations

133.856-134.2448.00.3-

Apparel

132.928-131.301-0.9-1.2-

Transportation

229.228-241.73716.65.5-

Private transportation

235.993-246.73217.54.6-

New and used motor vehicles(3)

119.059-119.28215.40.2-

New vehicles(1)

244.585-247.21110.81.1-

Used cars and trucks(1)

458.607-445.94722.4-2.8-

Motor fuel

310.232370.288369.89046.019.2-0.1

Gasoline (all types)

305.200363.233362.78545.718.9-0.1

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

294.249350.714350.09146.219.0-0.2

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

359.038423.680424.64542.318.30.2

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

307.144359.453361.22739.917.60.5

Medical care

492.716-499.3544.21.3-

Recreation(3)

125.544-129.5613.73.2-

Education and communication(3)

151.595-150.6272.5-0.6-

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

1,299.706-1,299.6292.60.0-

Other goods and services

341.212-355.3616.04.1-

Commodity and service group

Commodities

215.972-222.25013.52.9-

Commodities less food and beverages

176.868-181.43813.52.6-

Nondurables less food and beverages

234.413-247.66915.25.7-

Durables

122.220-121.47111.5-0.6-

Services

299.083-304.5825.21.8-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less shelter

246.271-253.1649.42.8-

All items less medical care

244.599-250.4258.82.4-

Commodities less food

180.992-185.71013.12.6-

Nondurables

264.249-276.14714.24.5-

Nondurables less food

238.230-251.23214.25.5-

Services less rent of shelter(2)

313.598-321.7904.32.6-

Services less medical care services

280.685-285.9365.31.9-

Energy

250.460278.464279.87828.811.70.5

All items less energy

260.702-264.7316.91.5-

All items less food and energy

255.577-258.6575.71.2-

(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.

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, May 11, 2022