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News Release Information

23-27-KAN
Thursday, January 12, 2023

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

Consumer Price Index, St. Louis area – December 2022

Area prices rose 0.1 percent in November and December, up 6.2 percent over the year

Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.1 percent for the two months ending in December 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index rose 0.6 percent in November and December, mainly due to higher costs for shelter. The food index advanced 1.1 percent, while the energy index fell 7.3 percent over the past two months. (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 6.2 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 5.0 percent over the year. Food prices increased 14.9 percent during the same period. Energy prices rose 3.8 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of electricity. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 1.1 percent for the two months ending in December. The index for food at home (grocery store prices) advanced 1.7 percent, which was mainly due to an increase in prices for fruits and vegetables (+3.6 percent), other food at home (+1.5 percent), and dairy and related products (+4.2 percent). Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 0.4 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 14.9 percent. Prices for food at home rose 12.4 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store food group indexes contributing to the rise. The other food at home index (sugar, sweets, fats, and oils, for example) contributed most to the increase at 17.2 percent. Prices for food away from home advanced 18.8 percent over the same period.

Energy

The energy index decreased 7.3 percent for the two months ending in December. The decline was mainly due to lower prices for gasoline (-15.2 percent), but a fall in the prices paid for electricity also contributed (- 0.5 percent). An increase in the cost for natural gas service (+1.8 percent) partially offset the two-month decline.

From December 2021 to December 2022, energy prices advanced 3.8 percent. The increase was due to higher prices for electricity (+13.7 percent) and natural gas service (+11.2 percent). The rise was partially offset by a decline in the prices paid for gasoline (-5.8 percent) during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.6 percent in November and December, after rising 0.9 percent in September and October. Higher prices for shelter (+2.0 percent), new vehicles (+0.9 percent) and recreation (+0.6 percent) were among the largest contributors to the rise. These increases were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-5.1 percent), medical care (-1.2 percent), public transportation, and household furnishings and operations (-0.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 5.0 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+6.6 percent), recreation (+8.0 percent), medical care (+4.0 percent), and new vehicles (+10.0 percent). Partially offsetting these increases were declines in the prices paid for lodging away from home and used cars and trucks (-8.6 percent).

The February 2023 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, March 14, 2023.


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 -
Oct.
2022
Nov.
2022
Dec.
2022
Dec.
2021
Oct.
2022
Nov.
2022

All items

269.134-269.4406.20.1-

All items (1967 = 100)

799.374-800.281   

Food and beverages

322.037-325.89814.51.2-

Food

321.881-325.58014.91.1-

Food at home

285.300280.754290.04912.41.73.3

Cereals and bakery products

243.823-248.91512.82.1-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

294.366-292.8841.6-0.5-

Dairy and related products

185.765-193.49821.84.2-

Fruits and vegetables

408.622-423.2848.43.6-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

217.594-218.69417.80.5-

Other food at home

301.297-305.82517.21.5-

Food away from home

385.244-386.74318.80.4-

Alcoholic beverages

287.886-293.1359.81.8-

Housing

257.031-260.5505.41.4-

Shelter

301.191304.325307.1115.12.00.9

Rent of primary residence

275.379278.451282.7586.82.71.5

Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)

316.594319.064321.7996.61.60.9

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)

316.594319.064321.7996.61.60.9

Fuels and utilities

258.866-259.7499.70.3-

Household energy

228.294225.559229.34412.50.51.7

Energy services

230.259227.393231.20412.70.41.7

Electricity

216.809215.299215.63113.7-0.50.2

Utility (piped) gas service

213.933209.531217.83211.21.84.0

Household furnishings and operations

138.331-137.1432.9-0.9-

Apparel

138.640-138.8978.80.2-

Transportation

237.371-229.5021.8-3.3-

Private transportation

242.476-235.1431.8-3.0-

New and used motor vehicles(3)

120.529-119.1022.9-1.2-

New vehicles(1)

257.572-259.96910.00.9-

Used cars and trucks(1)

430.352-408.556-8.6-5.1-

Motor fuel

324.216310.775275.257-5.1-15.1-11.4

Gasoline (all types)

316.935303.567268.671-5.8-15.2-11.5

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

305.110292.017257.814-6.1-15.5-11.7

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

377.537363.334326.922-3.4-13.4-10.0

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

324.227313.288285.090-1.9-12.1-9.0

Medical care

520.050-513.7644.0-1.2-

Recreation(3)

131.531-132.3518.00.6-

Education and communication(3)

153.564-154.7513.00.8-

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

1,359.705-1,355.3694.3-0.3-

Other goods and services

366.134-366.94610.90.2-

Commodity and service group

Commodities

226.779-223.4306.9-1.5-

Commodities less food and beverages

180.851-175.2152.5-3.1-

Nondurables less food and beverages

244.207-234.1594.7-4.1-

Durables

122.521-120.0260.2-2.0-

Services

313.740-317.5665.81.2-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less shelter

260.260-258.6756.7-0.6-

All items less medical care

256.521-257.1996.50.3-

Commodities less food

185.380-179.9972.8-2.9-

Nondurables

283.171-279.6629.9-1.2-

Nondurables less food

248.601-239.5495.1-3.6-

Services less rent of shelter(2)

334.050-335.8366.40.5-

Services less medical care services

293.757-298.4346.21.6-

Energy

272.405265.158252.6313.8-7.3-4.7

All items less energy

272.819-274.7436.40.7-

All items less food and energy

265.027-266.6785.00.6-

(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: Thursday, January 12, 2023