Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.0 percent for the two months ending in July 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the food index increased 2.1 percent, and the energy index rose 4.6 percent in June and July. The all items less food and energy index advanced 0.4 percent over the past two months, largely due to increases in the categories for owners’ equivalent rent of residences and rent of primary residence. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 9.4 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 5.7 percent over the year. Energy prices rose 43.2 percent, and food prices advanced 13.0 percent. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 2.1 percent for the two months ending in July. (See table 1.) Prices for food away from home rose 2.6 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 1.7 percent over the two-month period. The increase in the index for food at home was mainly due to an increase in the cost of meats, poultry, fish and eggs (+4.5 percent). Partially offsetting this increase was a decline in the price for fruits and vegetables (-5.6 percent).

Over the year, food prices increased 13.0 percent, the largest increase in the index since April 1979. The rise was driven by historic increases in both major food categories. Prices for food at home advanced 15.5 percent since a year ago, the largest annual rise since March 1974. Prices for food away from home rose 10.0 percent, the first double digit rise since the year ended in October 1980.

Energy

The energy index increased 4.6 percent for the two months ending in July. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for electricity (+19.4 percent). Partially offsetting this rise, prices for gasoline and natural gas service both declined over the same period, -3.6 percent, and -1.1 percent, respectively.

From July 2021 to July 2022, energy prices advanced 43.2 percent over the year, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+43.2 percent) and electricity (+47.3 percent). Prices for natural gas service rose 23.8 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.4 percent in the latest two-month period. The largest contributors to the rise included owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+1.1 percent), rent of primary residence (+1.7 percent), and new and used motor vehicles (+2.1 percent), were largely offset by lower prices for public transportation, apparel (-4.1 percent), and recreation (-1.8 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 5.7 percent. Components contributing to the increase included the indexes for shelter (+7.5 percent), new and used motor vehicles (+10.0 percent), and medical care (+3.7 percent). Partly offsetting the increases was a decline in the index for education and communication (-2.8 percent).

The September 2022 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Thursday, October 13, 2022.

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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas, Core Based Statistical Area includes the counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise.

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,
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, July 2022 (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from -
	May 2022	Jun. 2022	Jul. 2022	Jul. 2021	May 2022	Jun. 2022
All items	274.196	-	277.005	9.4	1.0	-
All items (1967 = 100)	860.138	-	868.949
Food and beverages	301.285	-	307.220	12.2	2.0	-
Food	296.494	-	302.627	13.0	2.1	-
Food at home	255.353	254.790	259.676	15.5	1.7	1.9
Cereals and bakery products	295.704	-	299.302	13.1	1.2	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	305.477	-	319.096	15.6	4.5	-
Dairy and related products	230.471	-	233.823	15.5	1.5	-
Fruits and vegetables	225.879	-	213.303	12.7	-5.6	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	215.278	-	229.262	18.4	6.5	-
Other food at home	242.840	-	248.796	17.3	2.5	-
Food away from home	356.967	-	366.109	10.0	2.6	-
Alcoholic beverages	359.891	-	361.785	2.3	0.5	-
Housing	265.781	-	272.042	10.0	2.4	-
Shelter	294.629	296.339	298.028	7.5	1.2	0.6
Rent of primary residence	319.110	320.418	324.536	9.2	1.7	1.3
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)	316.071	317.541	319.516	6.8	1.1	0.6
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)	316.071	317.541	319.516	6.8	1.1	0.6
Fuels and utilities	302.573	-	338.087	31.1	11.7	-
Household energy	282.593	300.966	326.246	42.8	15.4	8.4
Energy services	277.930	296.412	321.856	43.2	15.8	8.6
Electricity	257.039	271.376	306.957	47.3	19.4	13.1
Utility (piped) gas service	314.495	351.199	310.929	23.8	-1.1	-11.5
Household furnishings and operations	135.522	-	135.384	6.1	-0.1	-
Apparel	116.944	-	112.110	5.7	-4.1	-
Transportation	274.284	-	272.281	17.8	-0.7	-
Private transportation	278.360	-	279.365	18.1	0.4	-
New and used motor vehicles(3)	136.557	-	139.430	10.0	2.1	-
New vehicles(1)	220.802	-	223.366	4.7	1.2	-
Used cars and trucks(1)	488.869	-	500.696	7.0	2.4	-
Motor fuel	395.088	438.061	380.841	43.8	-3.6	-13.1
Gasoline (all types)	391.219	435.043	377.041	43.2	-3.6	-13.3
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	378.724	421.722	363.973	43.7	-3.9	-13.7
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	403.786	447.297	396.648	42.2	-1.8	-11.3
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	396.725	436.221	390.679	39.4	-1.5	-10.4
Medical care	496.530	-	499.554	3.7	0.6	-
Recreation(3)	125.453	-	123.216	-0.9	-1.8	-
Education and communication(3)	132.098	-	131.565	-2.8	-0.4	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)	1,296.393	-	1,297.449	1.6	0.1	-
Other goods and services	478.676	-	-	-	-	-
Commodity and service group
Commodities	212.027	-	212.027	12.5	0.0	-
Commodities less food and beverages	171.055	-	169.356	12.8	-1.0	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	224.153	-	219.023	20.9	-2.3	-
Durables	127.734	-	128.489	4.3	0.6	-
Services	335.781	-	341.037	7.7	1.6	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter	265.656	-	268.185	10.4	1.0	-
All items less medical care	263.319	-	266.118	9.9	1.1	-
Commodities less food	176.066	-	174.400	12.3	-0.9	-
Nondurables	260.546	-	259.888	16.4	-0.3	-
Nondurables less food	230.822	-	225.898	19.5	-2.1	-
Services less rent of shelter(2)	389.350	-	397.501	7.8	2.1	-
Services less medical care services	317.834	-	323.154	8.2	1.7	-
Energy	338.928	369.434	354.394	43.2	4.6	-4.1
All items less energy	273.652	-	275.387	6.5	0.6	-
All items less food and energy	270.111	-	271.294	5.7	0.4	-
(1) Indexes on a February 1978=100 base. (2) Indexes on a December 1982=100 base. (3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base. (4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample. (5) Index on a December 1993=100.
- Data not available.