The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 0.7 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The energy index contributed to the increase, up 5.9 percent over the month. The all items less food and energy index edged up 0.2 percent and the food index increased 0.3 percent in March. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U for the South increased 1.6 percent over the year. Since March 2018, the all items less food and energy index advanced 1.7 percent and the food index rose 2.3 percent. The energy index was unchanged over the last 12 months. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index edged up 0.3 percent in March, reflecting over-the-month increases in the food at home index (0.4 percent) and the food away from home index (0.2 percent).

The food index advanced 2.3 percent since March 2018, led by a 3.0-percent increase in the food away from home index. Over the year, the food at home index rose 1.8 percent.

Energy

The energy index increased 5.9 percent in March, reflecting a 12.1-percent increase in the gasoline index. In contrast, the utility (piped) gas service index declined in March (-0.4 percent), while the electricity index was unchanged over the month.

The energy index was unchanged from March 2018—March 2019. The electricity index increased 1.2 percent over the year. In contrast, the gasoline index decreased 0.4 percent since March 2018, while the utility (piped) gas service index was down 3.2 percent.   

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy edged up 0.2 percent in March. The shelter index contributed to the overall increase, up 0.3 percent over the month. 

Since March 2018, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.7 percent, reflecting increases for the shelter index (3.0 percent) and the recreation index (3.1 percent).  

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. The all items index in the South Atlantic division rose 0.8 percent in March. Over the month, the all items CPI-U advanced 0.6 percent in the East South Central and the West South Central divisions.

Over the year, the all items index advanced 2.0 percent in the South Atlantic division. The all items index rose 1.4 percent in the West South Central division and 1.0 percent in the East South Central division.

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

Month	2015		2016		2017		2018		2019
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	-0.7	-0.4	0.0	1.2	0.5	2.6	0.5	1.8	0.2	1.2
February	0.5	-0.3	0.1	0.7	0.2	2.8	0.6	2.1	0.5	1.1
March	0.6	-0.3	0.6	0.7	0.0	2.2	0.2	2.3	0.7	1.6
April	0.3	-0.6	0.4	0.9	0.2	2.0	0.4	2.4
May	0.4	-0.4	0.4	0.9	0.0	1.7	0.3	2.7
June	0.5	-0.1	0.4	0.8	0.2	1.5	0.2	2.7
July	-0.1	-0.1	-0.2	0.7	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.9
August	-0.2	-0.2	0.1	1.0	0.4	1.9	-0.1	2.4
September	-0.2	-0.4	0.2	1.4	0.7	2.4	0.0	1.7
October	0.0	-0.1	0.1	1.5	-0.2	2.0	0.2	2.1
November	-0.2	0.3	-0.1	1.6	-0.1	2.1	-0.3	1.9
December	-0.4	0.5	0.1	2.0	-0.1	1.8	-0.5	1.5

The Consumer Price Index for April 2019 is scheduled to be released on Friday, May 10, 2019.

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-
	Jan. 2019	Feb. 2019	Mar. 2019	Mar. 2018	Jan. 2019	Feb. 2019
Expenditure category
All Items	242.547	243.856	245.554	1.6	1.2	0.7
All items (December 1977=100)	393.445	395.568	398.323	-	-	-
Food and beverages	253.486	254.283	254.988	2.3	0.6	0.3
Food	254.780	255.522	256.326	2.3	0.6	0.3
Food at home	239.698	239.870	240.947	1.8	0.5	0.4
Cereal and bakery products	280.408	280.243	281.405	2.0	0.4	0.4
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	240.931	242.780	242.755	-0.4	0.8	0.0
Dairy and related products	220.259	219.595	220.743	1.1	0.2	0.5
Fruits and vegetables	292.367	291.564	293.784	5.5	0.5	0.8
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	170.030	169.935	171.784	3.2	1.0	1.1
Other food at home	210.132	210.053	210.701	0.7	0.3	0.3
Food away from home	280.009	281.561	281.996	3.0	0.7	0.2
Alcoholic beverages	235.026	236.622	235.885	1.5	0.4	-0.3
Housing	240.934	241.652	242.290	2.6	0.6	0.3
Shelter	277.768	278.981	279.940	3.0	0.8	0.3
Rent of primary residence	290.478	291.130	291.899	3.3	0.5	0.3
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)	279.750	280.541	281.175	2.8	0.5	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)	279.748	280.539	281.171	2.8	0.5	0.2
Fuels and utilities	238.277	237.582	237.465	1.0	-0.3	0.0
Household energy	191.386	190.752	190.571	0.5	-0.4	-0.1
Energy services	191.646	190.838	190.672	0.6	-0.5	-0.1
Electricity	189.212	188.831	188.748	1.2	-0.2	0.0
Utility (piped) gas service	192.081	188.382	187.655	-3.2	-2.3	-0.4
Household furnishings and operations	123.601	123.599	123.671	1.8	0.1	0.1
Apparel	131.748	136.017	135.636	-3.2	3.0	-0.3
Transportation	201.909	203.762	209.792	0.4	3.9	3.0
Private transportation	201.044	202.641	208.776	0.6	3.8	3.0
New and used motor vehicles(2)	102.294	101.980	102.548	0.4	0.2	0.6
New vehicles	154.479	153.813	154.512	0.7	0.0	0.5
New cars and trucks(2)(3)	105.169	104.712	105.196	0.8	0.0	0.5
New cars(3)	154.309	153.515	154.414	1.0	0.1	0.6
Used cars and trucks	140.439	140.815	141.988	0.8	1.1	0.8
Motor fuel	185.406	192.783	215.717	-0.4	16.3	11.9
Gasoline (all types)	183.666	191.173	214.333	-0.4	16.7	12.1
Unleaded regular(3)	178.216	185.794	209.064	-0.4	17.3	12.5
Unleaded midgrade(3)(4)	209.302	215.812	237.862	-0.4	13.6	10.2
Unleaded premium(3)	210.159	216.174	235.636	-0.6	12.1	9.0
Motor vehicle insurance(5)	956.571	957.461	954.844	1.4	-0.2	-0.3
Medical care	465.889	468.571	468.551	0.6	0.6	0.0
Medical care commodities	358.356	358.403	356.655	-3.8	-0.5	-0.5
Medical care services	502.125	505.723	506.308	1.7	0.8	0.1
Professional services	365.034	367.656	366.632	0.1	0.4	-0.3
Recreation(2)	120.317	121.102	121.886	3.1	1.3	0.6
Education and communication(2)	132.185	132.326	132.249	0.2	0.0	-0.1
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(5)	1,321.563	1,324.361	1,330.374	2.7	0.7	0.5
Other goods and services	427.738	430.303	430.284	1.5	0.6	0.0
Commodity and service group
All Items	242.547	243.856	245.554	1.6	1.2	0.7
Commodities	180.980	182.390	184.978	0.6	2.2	1.4
Commodities less food and beverages	147.336	148.892	152.007	-0.3	3.2	2.1
Nondurables less food and beverages	188.328	192.111	198.968	-1.2	5.6	3.6
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	223.809	227.466	238.288	-0.6	6.5	4.8
Durables	108.156	108.174	108.660	0.7	0.5	0.4
Services	304.570	305.752	306.479	2.3	0.6	0.2
Rent of shelter(1)	285.203	286.465	287.469	3.0	0.8	0.4
Transportation services	357.177	358.937	359.605	0.5	0.7	0.2
Other services	343.819	345.510	346.110	2.0	0.7	0.2
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	230.363	231.598	233.373	1.7	1.3	0.8
All items less food	240.426	241.818	243.646	1.5	1.3	0.8
All items less shelter	229.833	231.182	233.164	1.0	1.4	0.9
Commodities less food	149.964	151.528	154.574	-0.3	3.1	2.0
Nondurables	219.045	221.468	225.520	0.6	3.0	1.8
Nondurables less food	190.701	194.370	200.833	-1.0	5.3	3.3
Nondurables less food and apparel	223.593	227.072	236.947	-0.4	6.0	4.3
Services less rent of shelter(1)	338.448	339.573	339.988	1.6	0.5	0.1
Services less medical care services	286.733	287.719	288.450	2.4	0.6	0.3
Energy	183.724	187.002	198.068	0.0	7.8	5.9
All items less energy	249.946	251.036	251.680	1.8	0.7	0.3
All items less food and energy	249.515	250.666	251.283	1.7	0.7	0.2
Commodities less food and energy commodities	146.342	147.092	147.404	-0.2	0.7	0.2
Energy commodities	189.095	196.619	219.502	-0.5	16.1	11.6
Services less energy services	316.500	317.900	318.723	2.4	0.7	0.3
Footnotes (1) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (2) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (3) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (4) Indexes on a December 1993=100 base. (5) 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.