The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 0.8 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The energy index increased 6.9 percent over the month, while the index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent. The food index was unchanged over the month. (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 advanced 2.9 percent for the 12 months ending March 2021. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.9 percent over the past year, while the energy index jumped 14.3 percent, and the food index rose 3.3 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index was unchanged in March. The food at home index edged up 0.2 percent in March, while the food away from home index declined 0.4 percent.  

The food index rose 3.3 percent for the 12 months ending in March, reflecting increases in the food at home (3.7 percent) and food away from home (2.8 percent) indexes.  

Energy

The energy index increased 6.9 percent in March, led by a 13.1-percent increase in the gasoline index. The electricity index rose 0.6 percent in March, while the utility (piped) gas service index rose 2.1 percent.

The energy index jumped 14.3 percent for the 12 months ending in March, reflecting a 26.9-percent sharp increase in the gasoline index. The electricity and utility (piped) gas service indexes also increased over the year, up 1.9 percent and 11.2 percent, respectively.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.4 percent in March. Several indexes increased over the month, most notably, new and used motor vehicles (1.5 percent) and shelter (0.3 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.9 percent for the 12 months ending in March, led by a 2.1-percent increase in the shelter index. The new and used motor vehicles index increased 4.9 percent over the past year—reflecting an 8.8-percent increase in the used cars and trucks index. The medical care index also increased over the past year, up 2.7 percent.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. Over the month, the all items CPI-U advanced 1.1 percent in the East South Central division. The all items index also increased in the West South Central and South Atlantic divisions in March, up 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively

Over the year, the all items index advanced 4.0 percent in the East South Central division. The all items index rose 2.9 percent in the South Atlantic division and 2.4 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	2017		2018		2019		2020		2021
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.5	2.6	0.5	1.8	0.2	1.2	0.3	2.3	0.5	1.6
February	0.2	2.8	0.6	2.1	0.5	1.1	0.2	1.9	0.5	2.0
March	0.0	2.2	0.2	2.3	0.7	1.6	-0.1	1.1	0.8	2.9
April	0.2	2.0	0.4	2.4	0.5	1.8	-0.8	-0.2
May	0.0	1.7	0.3	2.7	-0.1	1.4	-0.2	-0.4
June	0.2	1.5	0.2	2.7	-0.1	1.1	0.6	0.3
July	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.9	0.3	1.4	0.6	0.6
August	0.4	1.9	-0.1	2.4	-0.1	1.4	0.4	1.1
September	0.7	2.4	0.0	1.7	0.0	1.3	0.2	1.3
October	-0.2	2.0	0.2	2.1	0.2	1.3	0.1	1.3
November	-0.1	2.1	-0.3	1.9	0.0	1.6	-0.1	1.2
December	-0.1	1.8	-0.5	1.5	0.0	2.1	0.2	1.4

The Consumer Price Index for April 2021 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 12, 2021 at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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.

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.