Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 2.4 percent for the two months ending in June 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the food index increased 2.2 percent, and the energy index rose 23.9 percent in May and June. The all items less food and energy index advanced 0.2 percent over the past two months, mainly due to increases in prices for new and used vehicles, and also apparel. (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 8.4 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.8 percent over the year. Energy prices jumped 39.6 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline, while food prices rose 12.9 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, St. Louis, MO-IL, June 2019–June 2022

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jun 2019	1.0	1.2
Aug 2019	1.1	1.8
Oct 2019	0.5	1.0
Dec 2019	2.1	1.6
Feb 2020	2.1	1.8
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

Food prices increased 2.2 percent for the two months ending in June. Prices for food at home advanced 3.7 percent, but prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) inched down 0.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices jumped 12.9 percent. Prices for food at home (groceries) increased 13.7 percent since a year ago. Prices for food away from home rose 11.8 percent.

The energy index jumped 23.9 percent for the two months ending in June. The increase was partly due to higher prices for gasoline (+22.8 percent) but all energy components contributed to the increase. The index for electricity climbed (+42.7 percent), and prices for natural gas service increased 2.3 percent for the same period.

From June 2021 to June 2022, energy prices surged 39.6 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+67.8 percent), but all components contributed. Prices paid for electricity increased 14.5 percent, and prices for natural gas service rose 22.0 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy crept up 0.2 percent in Mary and June, after rising 1.2 percent in March and April. Higher prices for new and used motor vehicles (+2.5 percent) apparel (+2.4 percent), and household furnishings and operations (+0.7 percent), were partially offset by lower prices for recreation (-2.3 percent), medical care (-0.6 percent), and owners’ equivalent rent of residences (-0.2 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.8 percent. Components most contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+4.7 percent), new and used motor vehicles (+9.9 percent), and medical care (+3.8 percent).

The August 2022 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, September 13, 2022.

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.