The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South increased 0.1 percent in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent over the month. The energy index declined 1.7 percent in November, while the food index edged up 0.2 percent. (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 7.7 percent for the 12 months ending in November, after increasing 8.1 percent for the 12-month period ending in October. The index for all items less food and energy rose 6.9 percent over the past year. The food index and the energy index also increased over the last 12 months, up 11.1 percent and 10.2 percent, respectively. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

The food index rose 0.2 percent in November, reflecting a 0.6-percent increase in the food away from home index. In contrast, the food at home index inched down 0.1 percent over the month, as declines were noted for the fruits and vegetables (-0.9 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-0.4 percent) food groups.

The food index advanced 11.1 percent for the 12 months ending in November. The food at home index rose 12.7 percent over the past year as all six major grocery store food group indexes increased. The food away from home index rose 8.6 percent over the past year.

Energy

The energy index declined 1.7 percent in November, led by decreases in the gasoline (-1.8 percent) and electricity (-1.7 percent) indexes. The index for natural gas also declined in November, down 3.1 percent.

The energy index rose 10.2 percent for the 12 months ending in November. Increases were noted for electricity (+16.2 percent), gasoline (+4.2 percent) and natural gas (+15.8 percent).

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in November, primarily reflecting a 0.8-percent increase in the shelter index. Within shelter, owners’ equivalent rent rose 0.9 percent over the month and rent of primary residence rose 1.1 percent. Several indexes declined in November, most notable include used cars and trucks (-2.8 percent) and medical care services (-0.9 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 6.9 percent for the 12 months ending in November, after increasing 7.1 percent over the 12-month period ending in October. Several components contributed to the 12-month increase, most notably, shelter (+9.1 percent). Within shelter, owner’s equivalent rent increased 8.9 percent over the past year and rent of primary residence rose 10.9 percent.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. In November, the all items index rose 0.3 percent in the South Atlantic division. The all items index declined 0.4 percent in the West South Central division and 0.1 percent in the East South Central division in November.

Over the year, the all items index advanced 8.1 percent in the South Atlantic division, 7.4 percent in the West South Central division, and 6.3 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	0.4	8.1
November	-0.3	1.9	0.0	1.6	-0.1	1.2	0.4	7.2	0.1	7.7
December	-0.5	1.5	0.0	2.1	0.2	1.4	0.3	7.4

The Consumer Price Index for December 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, January 12 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-
	Sep. 2022	Oct. 2022	Nov. 2022	Nov. 2021	Sep. 2022	Oct. 2022
Expenditure category
All Items	287.656	288.836	288.991	7.7	0.5	0.1
All items (December 1977=100)	466.619	468.533	468.784	-	-	-
Food and beverages	305.543	307.885	308.552	10.7	1.0	0.2
Food	309.105	311.524	312.103	11.1	1.0	0.2
Food at home	294.198	296.644	296.475	12.7	0.8	-0.1
Cereal and bakery products	349.113	348.943	351.167	16.2	0.6	0.6
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	312.602	314.999	313.744	7.5	0.4	-0.4
Dairy and related products	270.267	270.634	272.000	17.1	0.6	0.5
Fruits and vegetables	327.368	331.867	328.955	9.1	0.5	-0.9
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	204.004	207.179	207.394	15.9	1.7	0.1
Other food at home	261.125	263.482	263.844	15.2	1.0	0.1
Food away from home	332.769	335.110	337.045	8.6	1.3	0.6
Alcoholic beverages	256.052	257.323	259.209	4.6	1.2	0.7
Housing	285.527	287.255	288.299	9.6	1.0	0.4
Shelter	326.358	328.859	331.346	9.1	1.5	0.8
Rent of primary residence	346.963	350.275	354.198	10.9	2.1	1.1
Owners' equiv. rent of residences(1)	328.026	330.657	333.504	8.9	1.7	0.9
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence(1)	328.026	330.655	333.502	8.9	1.7	0.9
Fuels and utilities	298.740	297.757	294.137	13.4	-1.5	-1.2
Household energy	248.888	247.374	242.953	16.4	-2.4	-1.8
Energy services	248.485	246.776	241.976	16.2	-2.6	-1.9
Electricity	239.843	237.971	233.860	16.2	-2.5	-1.7
Utility (piped) gas service	285.328	284.825	275.896	15.8	-3.3	-3.1
Household furnishings and operations	146.275	147.092	146.301	8.7	0.0	-0.5
Apparel	139.289	139.069	136.937	4.0	-1.7	-1.5
Transportation	265.348	266.021	264.141	6.8	-0.5	-0.7
Private transportation	266.854	267.237	265.426	6.0	-0.5	-0.7
New and used motor vehicles(2)	132.058	130.888	129.407	2.6	-2.0	-1.1
New vehicles	183.582	184.452	184.487	8.2	0.5	0.0
New cars and trucks(2)(3)	-	-	-	-	-	-
New cars(3)	183.490	183.754	183.637	8.9	0.1	-0.1
Used cars and trucks	204.436	199.567	193.923	-3.7	-5.1	-2.8
Motor fuel	295.417	298.069	293.137	4.9	-0.8	-1.7
Gasoline (all types)	292.146	294.628	289.427	4.2	-0.9	-1.8
Unleaded regular(3)	285.463	288.047	282.884	4.0	-0.9	-1.8
Unleaded midgrade(3)(4)	326.336	327.675	322.168	4.8	-1.3	-1.7
Unleaded premium(3)	316.790	318.166	313.261	5.0	-1.1	-1.5
Medical care	526.044	524.379	520.021	3.6	-1.1	-0.8
Medical care commodities	368.203	368.319	366.460	3.5	-0.5	-0.5
Medical care services	579.512	577.223	572.000	3.6	-1.3	-0.9
Professional services	393.719	394.829	393.899	2.1	0.0	-0.2
Recreation(2)	131.706	132.171	133.642	5.9	1.5	1.1
Education and communication(2)	138.724	138.796	139.614	0.1	0.6	0.6
Tuition, other school fees, and child care(5)	1,435.473	1,438.622	1,441.796	3.1	0.4	0.2
Other goods and services	490.976	492.794	498.593	7.6	1.6	1.2
Commodity and service group
All Items	287.656	288.836	288.991	7.7	0.5	0.1
Commodities	220.461	220.976	219.757	6.4	-0.3	-0.6
Commodities less food and beverages	180.881	180.774	179.006	4.2	-1.0	-1.0
Nondurables less food and beverages	231.697	232.992	231.117	6.3	-0.3	-0.8
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	287.411	289.515	287.690	6.9	0.1	-0.6
Durables	132.538	131.715	130.217	2.4	-1.8	-1.1
Services	354.916	356.783	358.390	8.5	1.0	0.5
Rent of shelter(1)	335.914	338.502	341.089	9.2	1.5	0.8
Transportation services	416.857	423.338	426.943	15.9	2.4	0.9
Other services	374.447	375.427	380.883	4.0	1.7	1.5
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	274.523	275.842	276.223	8.1	0.6	0.1
All items less food	284.157	285.161	285.256	7.2	0.4	0.0
All items less shelter	273.764	274.428	273.664	7.0	0.0	-0.3
Commodities less food	183.324	183.246	181.549	4.2	-1.0	-0.9
Nondurables	266.562	268.349	267.660	8.7	0.4	-0.3
Nondurables less food	232.730	234.022	232.358	6.2	-0.2	-0.7
Nondurables less food and apparel	283.226	285.250	283.741	6.7	0.2	-0.5
Services less rent of shelter(1)	390.004	391.011	391.418	7.7	0.4	0.1
Services less medical care services	334.577	336.753	338.880	9.2	1.3	0.6
Energy	265.148	265.570	261.005	10.2	-1.6	-1.7
All items less energy	291.577	292.840	293.470	7.5	0.6	0.2
All items less food and energy	289.147	290.228	290.867	6.9	0.6	0.2
Commodities less food and energy commodities	170.180	169.777	168.405	4.0	-1.0	-0.8
Energy commodities	300.948	303.767	299.166	5.3	-0.6	-1.5
Services less energy services	366.233	368.475	370.754	8.0	1.2	0.6
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.