Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.6 percent for the two months ending in April 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index rose 1.0 percent in March and April, largely due to an increase in the index for shelter. The energy index also advanced 2.8 percent over the two-month period. The food index fell 3.2 percent, the first bi-monthly decline since December 2020. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 4.2 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.6 percent, and food prices advanced 5.8 percent over the year. Energy prices declined 2.2 percent, entirely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, April 2020–April 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Apr 2020	-0.6	0.4
Jun 2020	0.2	1.5
Aug 2020	0.8	1.8
Oct 2020	1.1	1.7
Dec 2020	1.2	2.2
Feb 2021	1.6	1.8
Apr 2021	5.4	4.8
Jun 2021	6.1	5.0
Aug 2021	6.6	5.2
Oct 2021	7.5	5.8
Dec 2021	8.3	6.3
Feb 2022	8.2	6.3
Apr 2022	8.4	5.7
Jun 2022	8.4	4.8
Aug 2022	7.5	5.3
Oct 2022	7.0	5.0
Dec 2022	6.2	5.0
Feb 2023	5.9	4.8
Apr 2023	4.2	4.6

Food prices fell 3.2 percent for the two months ending in April. Prices for food away from home decreased 5.2 percent, and prices for food at home declined 1.9 percent for the same period. The decrease in the food at home index was mainly due to a decline in the prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-4.3 percent) and other food at home (-2.6 percent). Higher prices for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+3.1 percent) and dairy and related products (+1.0 percent) partially offset this decrease.

Over the year, food prices rose 5.8 percent. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) increased 5.7 percent, while prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 6.0 percent.  Increases in the other food at home index (+8.0 percent) and cereals and bakery products (+12.6 percent) drove most of the rise in the food at home index. A decline in prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-2.3 percent) partially offset the increase, the first such decrease in this grocery store food group since February 2020.

The energy index rose 2.8 percent in March and April, entirely due to higher prices for gasoline (+8.6 percent). Lower prices for electricity (-2.0 percent) and natural gas service (-1.7 percent) partially offset the increase in the index.

From April 2022 to April 2023, energy prices decreased 2.2 percent, fully due to lower prices for gasoline (-12.8 percent). Advances in the indexes for electricity (+13.7 percent) and natural gas service (+8.0 percent) partially offset the decline over the year.

percent in January and February. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.9 percent), public transportation, and used cars and trucks (+5.8 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for other goods and services (-0.6 percent), medical care services, and motor vehicle maintenance and repair.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 4.6 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+5.5 percent), rent of primary residence (+7.5 percent), and new vehicles (+6.5 percent). Falling prices for used cars and trucks (-5.9 percent) partially offset these increases.

The June 2023 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 12, 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 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.