The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South declined 0.1 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The energy index declined 1.5 percent over the month, while the food index edged down 0.2 percent. The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in November. (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 rose 1.2 percent for the 12 months ending November 2020. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.6 percent over the past year, while the food index advanced 3.7 percent. In contrast, the energy index fell 8.6 percent over the past 12 months. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index edged down 0.2 percent in November, reflecting a 0.6 percent decrease in the food at home index. In contrast, the food away from home index rose 0.3 percent over the month.    

The food index advanced 3.7 percent for the 12 months ending in November, reflecting increases in the food at home (4.0 percent) and food away from home (3.2 percent) indexes.  

Energy

The energy index declined 1.5 percent in November, reflecting decreases in the gasoline (-3.5 percent) and electricity (-0.4 percent) indexes. The utility (piped) gas service index increased 3.6 percent over the month.

The energy index fell 8.6 percent for the 12 months ending in November, led by a 18.6-percent drop in the gasoline index. The electricity and the utility (piped) gas service indexes increased over the past year, up 1.2 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in November. Several indexes increased over the month, including motor vehicle insurance (1.0 percent), education and communication (0.3 percent), and shelter (0.1 percent). Among the indexes to decline in November include used cars and trucks (-1.4 percent), apparel (-1.3 percent), and recreation (-0.5 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.6 percent for the 12 months ending in November, led by a 2.2-percent increase in the shelter index. Over the past year, the used cars and trucks index jumped 10.6 percent, while the medical care index advanced 2.4 percent—a result of a 3.2-percent increase in the medical care services index. Apparel (-6.7 percent) and motor vehicle insurance (-6.2 percent) were among the indexes to decline over the past year.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. The all items CPI-U for the West South Central division edged down 0.2 percent in November. The all items index also decreased for the South Atlantic and the East South Central divisions in November, down 0.1 percent each.

Over the year, the all items index advanced 1.6 percent in the South Atlantic division. The all items index rose 1.2 percent in the East South Central division and 0.4 percent in the West South Central division.

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

Month	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.0	1.2	0.5	2.6	0.5	1.8	0.2	1.2	0.3	2.3
February	0.1	0.7	0.2	2.8	0.6	2.1	0.5	1.1	0.2	1.9
March	0.6	0.7	0.0	2.2	0.2	2.3	0.7	1.6	-0.1	1.1
April	0.4	0.9	0.2	2.0	0.4	2.4	0.5	1.8	-0.8	-0.2
May	0.4	0.9	0.0	1.7	0.3	2.7	-0.1	1.4	-0.2	-0.4
June	0.4	0.8	0.2	1.5	0.2	2.7	-0.1	1.1	0.6	0.3
July	-0.2	0.7	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.9	0.3	1.4	0.6	0.6
August	0.1	1.0	0.4	1.9	-0.1	2.4	-0.1	1.4	0.4	1.1
September	0.2	1.4	0.7	2.4	0.0	1.7	0.0	1.3	0.2	1.3
October	0.1	1.5	-0.2	2.0	0.2	2.1	0.2	1.3	0.1	1.3
November	-0.1	1.6	-0.1	2.1	-0.3	1.9	0.0	1.6	-0.1	1.2
December	0.1	2.0	-0.1	1.8	-0.5	1.5	0.0	2.1

The Consumer Price Index for December 2020 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 13, 2021.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures 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 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.

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