Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.6 percent for the two months ending in February 2024, 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 increased 1.6 percent in January and February, largely due to higher costs for medical care services and owners’ equivalent rent of residence. The energy index rose 2.6 percent, mainly due to a rise in prices paid for gasoline. The index for food advanced 0.8 percent over the two-month period. (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 3.6 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.8 percent over the year. Energy prices fell 3.3 percent, and food prices declined 0.6 percent over the same period. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, February 2021–February 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Aug 2023	3.1	3.7
Oct 2023	3.1	3.8
Dec 2023	2.8	3.6
Feb 2024	3.6	4.8

Food prices advanced 0.8 percent for the two months ending in February. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 1.4 percent, and prices for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 0.4 percent for the same period. Within the food a home category, the index for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials and cereal and bakery products contributed most to the rise in the index at 5.4 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. A decline in the prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.6 percent) and fruits and vegetables (-1.2 percent) partially offset the rise in the index.

Over the year, food prices fell 0.6 percent. Prices for food away from home fell 1.3 percent. Prices for food at home decreased 0.1 percent, with the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-4.5 percent) contributing most to the over-the-year decline. A rise in the index for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+7.9 percent) largely offset the increase in the food at home index.

The energy index increased 2.6 percent for the two months ending in February. The increase was largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+4.6 percent), but higher prices for electricity (+0.8 percent) also contributed. Prices paid for natural gas service decreased 0.4 percent for the same period.

From February 2023 to February 2024, energy prices fell 3.3 percent, with a decrease in the index for electricity (-5.1 percent) contributing most to the decline. Prices paid for gasoline fell 3.0 percent, and prices paid for natural gas service decreased 2.0 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for medical care services, shelter (+1.4 percent), and apparel (+5.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-3.3 percent), motor vehicle maintenance and repair, and alcoholic beverages (-2.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.8 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+7.2 percent), medical care (+5.2 percent), and rent of primary residence (+6.2 percent).

The April 2024 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area 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 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.