The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South increased 0.6 percent in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent over the pricing period. The energy index increased 1.7 percent in February, while the food index edged down 0.2 percent. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U was up 2.1 percent for the 12 months ending February. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.8 percent over the past year, while the energy index advanced 7.3 percent and the food index rose 1.1 percent. (See chart 1.)

Food

The food index edged down 0.2 percent in February. The index for food at home declined 0.5 percent, led by a 1.6 percent decrease in the fruits and vegetables index. The index for food away from home edged up 0.3 percent over the month.

Over the last 12 months, the food index rose 1.1 percent, reflecting increases in the indexes for food away from home (2.2 percent) and food at home (0.2 percent).

Energy

The energy index increased 1.7 percent in February, fueled by a 2.2-percent increase in the motor fuel index. The indexes for electricity and utility (piped) gas service were also up, rising 0.9 and 2.4 percent, respectively.

From February 2017—February 2018, the energy index advanced 7.3 percent, led by a 12.6-percent increase in the motor fuel index. The electricity index rose 1.9 percent and the index for utility (piped) gas service increased 2.9 percent over the last year.

All items less food and energy

The all items less food and energy index rose 0.6 percent in February. The indexes for apparel and motor vehicle insurance advanced over the month, up 4.5 and 2.8 percent, respectively. The index for medical care services—up 0.8 percent—contributed to a 0.7 percent increase in the medical care index.

Since February 2017, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.8 percent. The shelter index contributed to the increase, up 3.1 percent over the past 12 months.

Table A. South region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2014		2015		2016		2017		2018
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.3	1.7	-0.7	-0.4	0.0	1.2	0.5	2.6	0.5	1.8
February	0.4	1.2	0.5	-0.3	0.1	0.7	0.2	2.8	0.6	2.1
March	0.6	1.5	0.6	-0.3	0.6	0.7	0.0	2.2
April	0.5	2.3	0.3	-0.6	0.4	0.9	0.2	2.0
May	0.2	2.4	0.4	-0.4	0.4	0.9	0.0	1.7
June	0.2	2.3	0.5	-0.1	0.4	0.8	0.2	1.5
July	-0.1	2.0	-0.1	-0.1	-0.2	0.7	-0.2	1.6
August	-0.2	1.7	-0.2	-0.2	0.1	1.0	0.4	1.9
September	0.1	1.7	-0.2	-0.4	0.2	1.4	0.7	2.4
October	-0.3	1.6	0.0	-0.1	0.1	1.5	-0.2	2.0
November	-0.6	1.3	-0.2	0.3	-0.1	1.6	-0.1	2.1
December	-0.6	0.6	-0.4	0.5	0.1	2.0	-0.1	1.8

The Consumer Price Index for March 2018 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.

Technical Note

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 population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers 29 percent of the total 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 5,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch17.pdf.

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 South region is comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods
South (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from-
	Dec. 2017	Jan. 2018	Feb. 2018	Feb. 2017	Dec. 2017	Jan. 2018
Expenditure category
All Items	238.512	239.772	241.123	2.1	1.1	0.6
All items (December 1977=100)	386.900	388.943	391.135	-	-	-
Food and beverages	248.924	249.815	249.475	1.1	0.2	-0.1
Food	250.183	251.127	250.710	1.1	0.2	-0.2
Food at home	237.328	238.422	237.191	0.2	-0.1	-0.5
Cereal and bakery products	276.232	279.047	276.276	-	0.0	-1.0
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	243.586	241.320	241.201	-	-1.0	0.0
Dairy and related products	220.368	219.988	218.805	-	-0.7	-0.5
Fruits and vegetables	283.123	289.347	284.805	-	0.6	-1.6
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	164.438	166.650	165.709	-	0.8	-0.6
Other food at home	209.471	209.633	209.763	-	0.1	0.1
Food away from home	272.220	272.970	273.685	2.2	0.5	0.3
Alcoholic beverages	230.971	231.076	231.864	1.3	0.4	0.3
Housing	234.271	235.071	235.746	2.8	0.6	0.3
Shelter	269.585	270.413	270.759	3.1	0.4	0.1
Rent of primary residence(1)	281.130	281.731	282.086	3.7	0.3	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)(2)	272.057	272.487	272.713	3.1	0.2	0.1
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)(2)	272.048	272.479	272.703	3.1	0.2	0.1
Fuels and utilities	235.016	234.824	236.851	2.4	0.8	0.9
Household energy	189.637	189.383	191.430	2.2	0.9	1.1
Energy services(1)	189.726	189.240	191.340	2.0	0.9	1.1
Electricity(1)	186.756	186.609	188.321	1.9	0.8	0.9
Utility (piped) gas service(1)	193.989	191.208	195.804	2.9	0.9	2.4
Household furnishings and operations	119.787	121.071	121.962	0.5	1.8	0.7
Apparel	128.781	128.360	134.086	0.5	4.1	4.5
Transportation	203.612	206.288	208.883	4.4	2.6	1.3
Private transportation	202.308	205.340	207.748	4.8	2.7	1.2
New and used motor vehicles(3)	100.897	101.344	101.619	-0.9	0.7	0.3
New vehicles	152.588	153.484	153.431	-1.3	0.6	0.0
New cars and trucks(3)(4)	103.882	104.496	104.446	-1.4	0.5	0.0
New cars(4)	151.448	152.796	152.819	-1.9	0.9	0.0
Used cars and trucks	137.368	137.686	138.808	0.1	1.0	0.8
Motor fuel	206.326	214.278	218.976	12.6	6.1	2.2
Gasoline (all types)	205.114	213.005	217.679	12.5	6.1	2.2
Unleaded regular(4)	199.823	207.758	212.431	12.6	6.3	2.2
Unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	228.878	236.213	240.797	12.2	5.2	1.9
Unleaded premium(4)	227.681	234.324	238.486	11.4	4.7	1.8
Motor vehicle insurance(6)	903.749	919.295	944.961	-	4.6	2.8
Medical care	456.631	461.691	464.905	1.5	1.8	0.7
Medical care commodities	369.725	369.046	369.817	0.3	0.0	0.2
Medical care services	485.668	492.724	496.783	1.7	2.3	0.8
Professional services	358.408	357.919	362.951	-1.5	1.3	1.4
Recreation(3)	116.768	116.802	118.011	0.3	1.1	1.0
Education and communication(3)	132.795	132.601	132.438	-2.4	-0.3	-0.1
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(6)	1,305.630	1,301.206	1,303.153	-	-0.2	0.1
Other goods and services	422.957	425.261	424.495	1.8	0.4	-0.2
Commodity and service group
All Items	238.512	239.772	241.123	2.1	1.1	0.6
Commodities	180.850	182.220	183.375	1.3	1.4	0.6
Commodities less food and beverages	148.744	150.214	151.831	1.4	2.1	1.1
Nondurables less food and beverages	194.085	196.795	200.123	3.8	3.1	1.7
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	234.263	238.680	240.880	4.8	2.8	0.9
Durables	106.710	107.269	107.666	-1.5	0.9	0.4
Services	296.436	297.560	299.100	2.6	0.9	0.5
Rent of shelter(2)	276.796	277.642	278.005	3.2	0.4	0.1
Transportation services	347.940	350.383	357.151	5.6	2.6	1.9
Other services	338.649	338.585	339.548	-0.1	0.3	0.3
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	226.605	227.671	228.924	2.2	1.0	0.6
All items less food	236.480	237.785	239.397	2.3	1.2	0.7
All items less shelter	227.358	228.784	230.519	1.7	1.4	0.8
Commodities less food	151.259	152.706	154.313	1.4	2.0	1.1
Nondurables	220.076	221.959	223.612	2.4	1.6	0.7
Nondurables less food	195.950	198.525	201.721	3.7	2.9	1.6
Nondurables less food and apparel	232.872	236.934	239.013	4.6	2.6	0.9
Services less rent of shelter(2)	330.365	331.864	334.884	2.0	1.4	0.9
Services less medical care services	279.309	279.967	281.300	2.7	0.7	0.5
Energy	193.046	196.789	200.074	7.3	3.6	1.7
All items less energy	244.387	245.370	246.506	1.7	0.9	0.5
All items less food and energy	243.786	244.776	246.177	1.8	1.0	0.6
Commodities less food and energy commodities	144.896	145.423	146.619	-0.7	1.2	0.8
Energy commodities	210.116	218.279	222.963	12.6	6.1	2.1
Services less energy services	307.695	308.995	310.471	2.7	0.9	0.5
Footnotes (1) This index series was calculated using a Laspeyres estimator. All other item stratum index series were calculated using a geometric means estimator. (2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (6) Indexes on a December 1977=100 base.
- Data not available. Regions defined as the four Census regions. South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.