Prices in the Midwest Region, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 0.7 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The March increase was led by a 0.5-percent advance in the all items less food and energy index, led by higher prices for shelter. Energy prices were up 3.6 percent, while food prices remained unchanged for March. (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 2.8 percent. (See chart 1.) The index for all items less food and energy rose 3.2 percent over the year, while food prices were up 2.0 percent. Energy prices saw a 0.6-percent gain, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline. (See table 1.)

  

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Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Midwest region, March 2021–March 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Aug 2023	3.4	4.5
Sep 2023	3.2	4.2
Oct 2023	2.9	4.3
Nov 2023	2.9	4.2
Dec 2023	3.2	4.1
Jan 2024	2.7	3.7
Feb 2024	2.8	3.4
Mar 2024	2.8	3.2

Food prices were unchanged for the month of March. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 0.1 percent, while prices for food at home (grocery store prices) fell by 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices rose 2.0 percent. Prices for food away from home increased 3.4 percent, and prices for food at home increased 1.2 percent since a year ago.

The energy index rose 3.6 percent over the month. The increase was almost entirely due to higher prices for gasoline (+8.9 percent). Prices for electricity were essentially unchanged, increasing 0.1 percent for the month. A decline for prices paid for natural gas service (-5.2 percent) partially offset these increases in March.

From March 2023 to March 2024, energy prices advanced 0.6 percent, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+2.2 percent), but with electricity also contributing to the rise (+2.2 percent). Partially offsetting the rise in prices was a decline in natural gas service, which fell 8.4 percent over the year.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.5 percent in March. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.6 percent), medical care services (+0.6 percent), and rent of primary residence (+0.7 percent) were the largest contributors.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 3.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+6.4 percent), rent of primary residence (+6.4 percent), and other goods and services (+6.4 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were falling prices for household furnishings and operations (-3.1 percent) and lodging away from home.

The April 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Midwest Region is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.

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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