Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.3 percent for the two months ending in November 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index advanced 1.0 percent in October and November, largely due to an increase in the shelter category. The food index rose 0.3 percent, while the energy index fell 6.2 percent over the past two months. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U increased 8.4 percent. The index for all items less food and energy advanced 7.6 percent over the year, the largest 12-month increase since the index began in 1983. Food prices rose 14.1 percent during the same period. Energy prices increased 8.8 percent, mainly the result of an increase in the price of electricity. (See chart 1 and  table 1.)

Food

Food prices rose 0.3 percent for the two months ending in November. Prices for food away from home increased, while prices for food at home decreased 0.2 percent for the same period. Within the food at home category, declines in the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-2.0 percent) outweighed increases in the indexes for fruits and vegetables (+1.5 percent) and other food at home (+0.8 percent).

Over the year, food prices rose 14.1 percent. Prices for food at home increased 15.3 percent since a year ago, with all six major grocery store food group indexes contributing to the rise. The other food at home index (which includes sugar, sweets, fats, and oils) contributed most to the increase at 18.0 percent. The category for food away from home also contributed to the rise in the food index.

Energy

The energy index declined 6.2 percent in October and November. The decrease was mainly due to lower prices for electricity (-7.7 percent), but all energy categories contributed. Prices for gasoline declined 4.5 percent, and prices for natural gas service fell 9.1 percent over the two-month period.

From November 2021 to November 2022, energy prices increased 8.8 percent, largely due to higher prices for electricity (+20.2 percent), but the index for natural gas service advanced 12.2 percent as well. The index for gasoline decreased 1.5 percent during the past year, the first over-the-year decline since January 2021.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.0 percent in the latest two-month period, after rising 1.5 percent in the previous period. The top components contributing to the rise all came from within the index for shelter: owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+2.2 percent), rent of primary residence (+2.4 percent), and lodging away from home. These increases were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-5.3 percent), public transportation, and medical care services.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 7.6 percent. An increase to the index for shelter (+10.2 percent), the largest 12-month increase since the period ending in October 1981, drove over half of the rise within the all items less food and energy index. The indexes for household furnishings and operations (+8.4 percent), and medical care services also had notable increases over the year.

The January 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, February 14, 2023.

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, November 2022 (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
All items	278.297	-	279.000	8.4	0.3	-
All items (1967 = 100)	873.002	-	875.209
Food and beverages	314.586	-	315.722	13.7	0.4	-
Food	309.825	-	310.771	14.1	0.3	-
Food at home	265.951	263.945	265.351	15.3	-0.2	0.5
Cereals and bakery products	305.384	-	302.510	10.8	-0.9	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	322.263	-	315.680	10.4	-2.0	-
Dairy and related products	231.714	-	229.661	13.6	-0.9	-
Fruits and vegetables	230.784	-	234.163	22.1	1.5	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)	224.768	-	224.053	15.1	-0.3	-
Other food at home	256.663	-	258.681	18.0	0.8	-
Food away from home	374.636	-	-	-	-	-
Alcoholic beverages	371.484	-	375.890	8.2	1.2	-
Housing	276.995	-	280.344	10.6	1.2	-
Shelter	303.312	306.991	310.510	10.2	2.4	1.1
Rent of primary residence	330.192	333.473	338.266	11.8	2.4	1.4
Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)	325.239	328.967	332.235	8.6	2.2	1.0
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)	325.239	328.967	332.235	8.6	2.2	1.0
Fuels and utilities	345.991	-	327.988	14.9	-5.2	-
Household energy	336.048	338.534	310.256	18.9	-7.7	-8.4
Energy services	331.715	334.088	305.354	18.8	-7.9	-8.6
Electricity	310.933	311.228	286.947	20.2	-7.7	-7.8
Utility (piped) gas service	351.560	365.129	319.474	12.2	-9.1	-12.5
Household furnishings and operations	137.351	-	138.687	8.4	1.0	-
Apparel	117.128	-	116.620	4.5	-0.4	-
Transportation	258.138	-	252.238	7.5	-2.3	-
Private transportation	262.579	-	258.008	6.1	-1.7	-
New and used motor vehicles(3)	136.025	-	134.237	5.6	-1.3	-
New vehicles(1)	224.554	-	224.626	4.8	0.0	-
Used cars and trucks(1)	479.284	-	454.102	-2.8	-5.3	-
Motor fuel	299.797	302.705	286.555	-0.6	-4.4	-5.3
Gasoline (all types)	295.585	299.009	282.233	-1.5	-4.5	-5.6
Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)	284.487	288.027	271.551	-1.7	-4.5	-5.7
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)	313.843	315.905	299.457	-0.8	-4.6	-5.2
Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)	313.917	315.457	300.588	0.0	-4.2	-4.7
Medical care	505.119	-	499.063	4.8	-1.2	-
Recreation(3)	124.766	-	126.780	5.5	1.6	-
Education and communication(3)	131.754	-	133.205	-2.1	1.1	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)	1,324.873	-	1,324.928	2.5	0.0	-
Other goods and services	483.670	-	484.898	0.9	0.3	-
Commodity and service group
Commodities	207.521	-	206.267	7.0	-0.6	-
Commodities less food and beverages	161.780	-	159.933	3.5	-1.1	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	201.139	-	198.597	4.2	-1.3	-
Durables	128.377	-	127.082	2.9	-1.0	-
Services	347.220	-	349.585	9.1	0.7	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter	267.470	-	264.898	7.4	-1.0	-
All items less medical care	267.200	-	268.235	8.7	0.4	-
Commodities less food	166.994	-	165.219	3.7	-1.1	-
Nondurables	252.086	-	251.014	9.0	-0.4	-
Nondurables less food	208.842	-	206.526	4.5	-1.1	-
Services less rent of shelter(2)	404.625	-	399.004	7.7	-1.4	-
Services less medical care services	329.278	-	332.361	9.7	0.9	-
Energy	319.720	322.423	299.967	8.8	-6.2	-7.0
All items less energy	279.907	-	282.445	8.3	0.9	-
All items less food and energy	275.468	-	278.198	7.6	1.0	-
(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.