The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South declined 0.2 percent in August, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The energy index fell 7.4 percent over the month. In contrast, the index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in August and the food index rose 0.7 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 8.9 percent for the 12 months ending in August, after increasing 9.4-percent over the 12-month period ending in July. The index for all items less food and energy rose 7.1 percent over the past year. The energy index and the food index also increased over the last 12 months, up 22.6 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, South region, August 2019–August 2022

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Aug 2019	1.4	2.2
Sep 2019	1.3	2.1
Oct 2019	1.3	2.1
Nov 2019	1.6	2.0
Dec 2019	2.1	2.0
Jan 2020	2.3	1.9
Feb 2020	1.9	1.9
Mar 2020	1.1	1.8
Apr 2020	-0.2	1.0
May 2020	-0.4	0.8
Jun 2020	0.3	0.8
Jul 2020	0.6	1.2
Aug 2020	1.1	1.6
Sep 2020	1.3	1.8
Oct 2020	1.3	1.7
Nov 2020	1.2	1.6
Dec 2020	1.4	1.7
Jan 2021	1.6	1.8
Feb 2021	2.0	1.6
Mar 2021	2.9	1.9
Apr 2021	4.4	3.3
May 2021	5.6	4.3
Jun 2021	5.8	5.0
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

The food index rose 0.7 percent in August, reflecting increases in the food away from home (+1.0 percent) and the food at home (+0.5 percent) indexes.

The food index advanced 11.5 percent for the 12 months ending in August, led by a 13.6-percent increase in the food at home index. The food away from home index also increased over the past 12 months, up 8.4 percent.  

The energy index fell 7.4 percent in August, reflecting a 14.0-percent decrease in the gasoline index. The utility (piped) gas service index increased 6.2 percent over the month, while the electricity index edged up 0.4 percent.  

The energy index advanced 22.6 percent for the 12 months ending in August, led by a 24.1-percent increase in the gasoline index. The electricity and utility (piped) gas service indexes also increased over the past 12 months, up 18.4 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.6 percent in August, primarily reflecting a 0.8-percent increase in the shelter index. Household furnishings and operations (+0.9 percent), medical care (+0.4 percent), and apparel (+1.4 percent) were also among the indexes to increase in August. In contrast, the used cars and trucks index declined 0.5 percent over the month.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 7.1 percent for the 12 months ending in August, led by a 7.9-percent increase in the shelter index. The new and used motor vehicles index rose 10.1 percent over the past 12 months, reflecting increases in the new vehicles (+11.8 percent) and used cars and trucks (+7.7 percent) indexes.

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. The all items index declined 0.5 percent in the East South Central division in August. The all items index also declined in the South Atlantic and West South Central divisions in August, down 0.1 percent each.  

Over the year, the all items index advanced 9.4 percent in the West South Central division and 9.0 percent in the South Atlantic division. The all items index increased 7.5 percent in the East South Central division.

The Consumer Price Index for September 2022 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 13, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

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.