The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South increased 0.2 percent in September, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5 percent over the month. This increase was largely offset by a 3.8-percent decline in the energy index. The food index continued to rise, increasing 0.8 percent in September. (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 8.7 percent for the 12 months ending in September, after increasing 8.9-percent over the 12-month period ending in August. The index for all items less food and energy rose 7.4 percent over the past year. The food index and the energy index also increased over the last 12 months, up 11.4 percent and 17.2 percent, respectively. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index rose 0.8 percent in September, led by a 0.9 percent increase in the food at home index. Several major grocery store food groups increased over the month, including fruits and vegetables (+1.7 percent), other food at home (+1.0 percent), and cereals and bakery products (+1.8 percent). The food away from home index also increased in September, up 0.8 percent.

The food index advanced 11.4 percent for the 12 months ending in September. The food at home index rose 13.2-percent over the past year as all six major grocery store food group indexes increased. The food away from home index rose 8.7 percent over the past year.

Energy

The energy index declined 3.8 percent in September, reflecting a 7.7-percent decrease in the gasoline index. The electricity index edged up 0.4 percent over the month, while the index for natural gas rose 0.8 percent.  

The energy index rose 17.2 percent for the 12 months ending in September, led by increases in the electricity (+17.9 percent) and gasoline (+13.9) indexes. The index for natural gas also increased over the last 12 months, up 31.5 percent.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.5 percent in September, primarily reflecting a 0.9-percent increase in the shelter index. Within shelter, owners’ equivalent rent rose 1.0 percent over the month and rent of primary residence rose 1.2 percent. In contrast, the used cars and trucks index declined 4.3 percent in September.  

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 7.4 percent for the 12 months ending in September, after increasing 7.1 percent over the 12-month period ending in August. Several components contributed to the 12-month increase, most notably, shelter (+8.4 percent). The new and used motor vehicles index increased 9.4 percent over the past year, reflecting increases in the new vehicles (+11.1 percent) and used cars and trucks (+7.0 percent) indexes.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. The all items index rose 0.3 percent in the South Atlantic division in September, and was unchanged in the East South Central and West South Central divisions.

Over the year, the all items index advanced 9.1 percent in the West South Central division and 8.8 percent in the South Atlantic division. The all items index increased 7.4 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	2018		2019		2020		2021		2022
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.5	1.8	0.2	1.2	0.3	2.3	0.5	1.6	0.9	7.8
February	0.6	2.1	0.5	1.1	0.2	1.9	0.5	2.0	1.1	8.4
March	0.2	2.3	0.7	1.6	-0.1	1.1	0.8	2.9	1.4	9.1
April	0.4	2.4	0.5	1.8	-0.8	-0.2	0.7	4.4	0.5	8.8
May	0.3	2.7	-0.1	1.4	-0.2	-0.4	0.8	5.6	1.2	9.2
June	0.2	2.7	-0.1	1.1	0.6	0.3	0.9	5.8	1.5	9.8
July	0.0	2.9	0.3	1.4	0.6	0.6	0.5	5.8	0.1	9.4
August	-0.1	2.4	-0.1	1.4	0.4	1.1	0.3	5.6	-0.2	8.9
September	0.0	1.7	0.0	1.3	0.2	1.3	0.3	5.8	0.2	8.7
October	0.2	2.1	0.2	1.3	0.1	1.3	1.0	6.6
November	-0.3	1.9	0.0	1.6	-0.1	1.2	0.4	7.2
December	-0.5	1.5	0.0	2.1	0.2	1.4	0.3	7.4

The Consumer Price Index for October 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, November 10, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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 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; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

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-
	Jul. 2022	Aug. 2022	Sep. 2022	Sep. 2021	Jul. 2022	Aug. 2022
Expenditure category
All Items	287.608	287.168	287.656	8.7	0.0	0.2
All items (December 1977=100)	466.540	465.826	466.619	-	-	-
Food and beverages	300.988	303.117	305.543	10.9	1.5	0.8
Food	304.342	306.513	309.105	11.4	1.6	0.8
Food at home	290.092	291.673	294.198	13.2	1.4	0.9
Cereal and bakery products	342.457	343.055	349.113	16.6	1.9	1.8
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	311.062	312.723	312.602	8.8	0.5	0.0
Dairy and related products	268.539	268.769	270.267	17.4	0.6	0.6
Fruits and vegetables	320.424	321.770	327.368	8.9	2.2	1.7
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	200.076	203.203	204.004	14.4	2.0	0.4
Other food at home	257.189	258.525	261.125	16.4	1.5	1.0
Food away from home	326.863	330.085	332.769	8.7	1.8	0.8
Alcoholic beverages	254.382	255.928	256.052	3.3	0.7	0.0
Housing	280.625	282.986	285.527	9.5	1.7	0.9
Shelter	320.777	323.346	326.358	8.4	1.7	0.9
Rent of primary residence	339.548	342.960	346.963	9.9	2.2	1.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)	321.794	324.693	328.026	8.3	1.9	1.0
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)	321.791	324.694	328.026	8.3	1.9	1.0
Fuels and utilities	294.235	297.285	298.740	15.9	1.5	0.5
Household energy	244.714	247.703	248.888	19.9	1.7	0.5
Energy services	244.123	247.272	248.485	19.8	1.8	0.5
Electricity	237.747	238.801	239.843	17.9	0.9	0.4
Utility (piped) gas service	266.499	283.099	285.328	31.5	7.1	0.8
Household furnishings and operations	143.368	144.650	146.275	10.1	2.0	1.1
Apparel	133.414	135.296	139.289	6.4	4.4	3.0
Transportation	280.741	271.261	265.348	12.1	-5.5	-2.2
Private transportation	282.692	273.305	266.854	11.6	-5.6	-2.4
New and used motor vehicles(2)	134.885	134.874	132.058	9.4	-2.1	-2.1
New vehicles	181.766	182.825	183.582	11.1	1.0	0.4
New cars and trucks(2)(3)	-	-	-	-	-	-
New cars(3)	181.656	182.572	183.490	12.2	1.0	0.5
Used cars and trucks	214.794	213.629	204.436	7.0	-4.8	-4.3
Motor fuel	371.164	319.583	295.417	14.6	-20.4	-7.6
Gasoline (all types)	368.091	316.509	292.146	13.9	-20.6	-7.7
Unleaded regular(3)	360.983	309.640	285.463	13.9	-20.9	-7.8
Unleaded midgrade(3)(4)	404.620	351.711	326.336	14.1	-19.3	-7.2
Unleaded premium(3)	387.643	339.920	316.790	13.4	-18.3	-6.8
Medical care	522.121	524.413	526.044	5.6	0.8	0.3
Medical care commodities	364.568	367.381	368.203	5.0	1.0	0.2
Medical care services	575.505	577.602	579.512	5.8	0.7	0.3
Professional services	393.403	393.397	393.719	2.1	0.1	0.1
Recreation(2)	131.294	131.551	131.706	3.4	0.3	0.1
Education and communication(2)	138.520	138.494	138.724	-0.4	0.1	0.2
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(5)	1,419.253	1,426.584	1,435.473	2.9	1.1	0.6
Other goods and services	484.836	489.069	490.976	7.2	1.3	0.4
Commodity and service group
All Items	287.608	287.168	287.656	8.7	0.0	0.2
Commodities	225.024	221.977	220.461	9.5	-2.0	-0.7
Commodities less food and beverages	188.170	183.600	180.881	8.8	-3.9	-1.5
Nondurables less food and beverages	248.847	236.331	231.697	10.2	-6.9	-2.0
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	316.751	296.538	287.411	11.1	-9.3	-3.1
Durables	133.816	133.931	132.538	7.7	-1.0	-1.0
Services	349.989	352.313	354.916	8.2	1.4	0.7
Rent of shelter(1)	330.073	332.744	335.914	8.5	1.8	1.0
Transportation services	407.243	410.197	416.857	15.3	2.4	1.6
Other services	373.717	374.222	374.447	2.0	0.2	0.1
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	274.670	274.094	274.523	9.0	-0.1	0.2
All items less food	284.773	283.965	284.157	8.3	-0.2	0.1
All items less shelter	275.898	274.268	273.764	8.9	-0.8	-0.2
Commodities less food	190.454	185.994	183.324	8.6	-3.7	-1.4
Nondurables	273.585	267.901	266.562	10.6	-2.6	-0.5
Nondurables less food	248.813	237.094	232.730	9.7	-6.5	-1.8
Nondurables less food and apparel	309.843	291.539	283.226	10.5	-8.6	-2.9
Services less rent of shelter(1)	386.093	388.044	390.004	7.9	1.0	0.5
Services less medical care services	329.618	331.941	334.577	8.5	1.5	0.8
Energy	297.632	275.588	265.148	17.2	-10.9	-3.8
All items less energy	288.263	289.989	291.577	8.0	1.1	0.5
All items less food and energy	286.058	287.715	289.147	7.4	1.1	0.5
Commodities less food and energy commodities	169.641	170.451	170.180	7.4	0.3	-0.2
Energy commodities	376.504	325.021	300.948	14.8	-20.1	-7.4
Services less energy services	361.245	363.483	366.233	7.5	1.4	0.8
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. NOTE: Index applies to a month as a whole, not to any specific date. Data not seasonally adjusted.