Prices in the Midwest Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.3 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The all items less food and energy index rose 0.5 percent in July, mainly due to an increase in the index for shelter. Food prices advanced 0.4 percent in July, while energy prices decreased 1.3 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 2.9 percent. (See chart 1.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 5.0 percent over the year, while the index for food also rose 5.0 percent. Somewhat offsetting the increase, energy prices fell 16.5 percent, largely due to a decline in gasoline prices. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Midwest region, July 2020–July 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jul 2020	0.7	1.6
Aug 2020	1.1	1.9
Sep 2020	1.3	1.9
Oct 2020	1.0	1.6
Nov 2020	1.0	1.6
Dec 2020	1.1	1.6
Jan 2021	1.2	1.2
Feb 2021	1.7	1.3
Mar 2021	3.0	1.8
Apr 2021	4.9	3.3
May 2021	5.6	4.3
Jun 2021	5.8	4.6
Jul 2021	5.9	4.6
Aug 2021	5.7	4.2
Sep 2021	5.7	4.0
Oct 2021	6.6	4.6
Nov 2021	7.3	5.0
Dec 2021	7.5	5.7
Jan 2022	7.9	6.4
Feb 2022	8.0	6.4
Mar 2022	8.6	6.4
Apr 2022	8.2	6.0
May 2022	8.8	5.9
Jun 2022	9.5	5.7
Jul 2022	8.6	5.4
Aug 2022	8.1	5.8
Sep 2022	8.1	6.2
Oct 2022	7.4	5.8
Nov 2022	6.8	5.5
Dec 2022	6.0	5.2
Jan 2023	6.0	4.9
Feb 2023	5.6	5.0
Mar 2023	4.9	5.4
Apr 2023	4.9	5.5
May 2023	3.7	5.0
Jun 2023	2.4	4.8
Jul 2023	2.9	5.0

Food prices advanced 0.4 percent for the month of July. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) advanced 0.5 percent, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 0.1 percent over the same period. Within the food at home category, prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (+1.1 percent) and nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+1.3 percent) contributed the most to the over-the-month increase.

Over the year, food prices advanced 5.0 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 7.1 percent, while prices for food at home advanced 3.8 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store group indexes contributing to the rise. The other food at home index (which includes sugars, sweets, fats, and oils) contributed the most to the rise (+5.6 percent).

The energy index fell 1.3 percent over the month. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-2.2 percent), but electricity prices (-1.2 percent) also contributed. A rise in the index for natural gas service (+1.2 percent) slightly offset the decline.

Energy prices were down 16.5 percent over the year, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-22.9 percent). Prices for natural gas service also contributed to the decline, falling 25.6 percent over the year. Slightly offsetting the decline were electricity prices, which rose 3.3 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5 percent in July. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent (+0.7 percent), lodging away from home, and other goods and services (+0.8 percent) were the largest contributors to the increase. Lower prices for public transportation, recreation (-0.2 percent), and household furnishings and operations (-0.2 percent) slightly offset the rise in the index.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 5.0 percent. Components contributing most to the increase included the three major shelter components: owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+7.2 percent), lodging away from home, and rent of primary residence (+7.0 percent). Declines in the indexes for used cars and trucks (-5.0 percent) and medical care services (-1.1 percent) partly offset the increase during the same period.

The August 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Midwest Region is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, September 13, 2023.

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 Midwest region is comprised of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

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