Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.3 percent for the two months ending in June 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the energy index increased 10.4 percent in May and June, entirely driven by an increase in the electricity index. The all items less food and energy index rose 0.5 percent, while the food index increased 1.3 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 advanced 3.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 4.8 percent over the year, while food prices rose 5.0 percent. Energy prices decreased 12.9 percent, entirely the result of a decline 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, June 2020–June 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Jun 2023	3.1	4.8

Food prices rose 1.3 percent for the two months ending in June. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) increased 1.6 percent, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 1.0 percent for the same period. Within the food at home category, increases in the indexes for other food at home (+3.7 percent) and fruits and vegetables (+2.7 percent) were partially offset by a decline in the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.6 percent).

Over the year, food prices advanced 5.0 percent. Prices for food away from home rose, while prices for food at home advanced 3.6 percent from June 2022 to June 2023. Increases in the other food at home index (+6.9 percent), nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+10.7 percent), and cereals and bakery products (+8.1 percent) drove most of the rise in the food at home index. A decline in prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-5.9 percent) partially offset the increase.

The energy index rose 10.4 percent for the two months ending in June, entirely due to higher prices for electricity (+35.1 percent). Lower prices for natural gas service (-3.3 percent) and gasoline (-0.6 percent), partially offset the increase in the index.

From June 2022 to June 2023, energy prices decreased 12.9 percent, fully due to lower prices for gasoline (-29.5 percent). This over-the-year decline was partially offset by increasing prices for electricity (+7.6 percent) and for natural gas services (+2.0 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 0.5 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.9 percent) and new and used motor vehicles (+1.6 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for education and communication (-2.1 percent) and recreation (-1.0 percent).

Over the last 12 months, the index for all items less food and energy increased 4.8 percent. Components most contributing to the rise included owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+6.8 percent), rent of primary residence (+8.4 percent) and recreation (+5.9 percent). A price decrease in the index for used cars and trucks (-4.3 percent) partially offset the increase.

The August 2023 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area 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 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.