The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 0.2 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The monthly increase in the all items index was attributed to increases in the shelter and gasoline indexes. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes may reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U for the South increased 2.9 percent for the 12 months ending in July, as it did over the 12-month period ending in June. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.1 percent over the past 12 months. The food index and the energy index also increased over the past year, up 2.2 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. (See table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, South region, July 2021–July 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jul 2021	5.8	4.8
Aug 2021	5.6	4.5
Sep 2021	5.8	4.5
Oct 2021	6.6	5.0
Nov 2021	7.2	5.5
Dec 2021	7.4	6.0
Jan 2022	7.8	6.5
Feb 2022	8.4	7.0
Mar 2022	9.1	7.1
Apr 2022	8.8	6.8
May 2022	9.2	6.7
Jun 2022	9.8	6.7
Jul 2022	9.4	6.8
Aug 2022	8.9	7.1
Sep 2022	8.7	7.4
Oct 2022	8.1	7.1
Nov 2022	7.7	6.9
Dec 2022	7.0	6.5
Jan 2023	6.9	6.3
Feb 2023	6.4	6.2
Mar 2023	5.3	6.3
Apr 2023	5.5	6.3
May 2023	4.4	6.0
Jun 2023	3.3	5.5
Jul 2023	3.4	5.0
Aug 2023	4.1	4.8
Sep 2023	4.2	4.6
Oct 2023	3.7	4.5
Nov 2023	3.4	4.4
Dec 2023	3.7	4.2
Jan 2024	3.4	4.3
Feb 2024	3.7	4.4
Mar 2024	3.8	4.0
Apr 2024	3.3	3.6
May 2024	3.2	3.3
Jun 2024	2.9	3.1
Jul 2024	2.9	3.1

The food index rose 0.3 percent in July, led by a 0.4-percent increase in the food at home index. Four of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the month, most notable, the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (+1.6 percent). The index for food away from home rose 0.2 percent in July.

The food index rose 2.2 percent for the 12 months ending in July, reflecting increases in the food away from home (+3.6 percent) and food at home (+1.3 percent) indexes. Five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the past year, led by a 3.8-percent increase in the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs.

The energy index rose 1.4 percent in July, largely attributed to a 2.3-percent increase in the gasoline index. The indexes for electricity and natural gas also increased over the month, up 0.3 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

The energy index rose 1.7 percent for the 12 months ending in July, led by a 4.1-percent increase in the electricity index. The index for natural gas rose 0.9 percent over the past year, while the index for gasoline declined 1.1 percent over the same period.

The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in July. The shelter index rose 0.3 percent over the month, reflecting increases for owners’ equivalent rent and rent of primary residence (+0.3 percent each). In contrast, among the indexes to decline in July include medical care (-0.5 percent), apparel (-1.4 percent), and used cars and trucks (-1.2 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 3.1 percent for the 12 months ending in July, as it did for the 12-month period ending in June. The index for shelter (+5.0 percent) was the largest contributor as owners’ equivalent rent (+5.2 percent) and rent of primary residence (+5.1 percent) also increased over the past year. In comparison, the index for new and used motor vehicles declined 4.9 percent over the past year, reflecting an 11.4-percent decline in the used cars and trucks index.   

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. In July, the all items index rose 0.2 percent in the South Atlantic division and 0.1 percent in the East South Central division. The all items index was unchanged in the West South Central division in July.  

Over the year, the all items index increased 3.2 percent in the East South Central division, 3.0 percent in the South Atlantic division, and 2.5 percent in the West South Central division.

The Consumer Price Index for August 2024 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, September 11, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

The Consumer Price Index for Chicago is published monthly. 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, 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 individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.