Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), were up 1.0 percent for the two months ending in September 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that a 1.7-percent increase to prices paid for shelter was the largest contributor. The all items less food and energy index rose 1.0 percent in August and September, along with the energy and food indexes, which advanced 3.1 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 4.6 percent. The index for all items less food and energy increased 5.8 percent over the year, and food prices increased 4.6 percent. The energy index fell 6.2 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of electricity. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, September 2020–September 2023

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Sep 2020	0.4	1.0
Nov 2020	0.3	0.9
Jan 2021	1.5	1.6
Mar 2021	3.4	2.5
May 2021	6.3	4.8
Jul 2021	5.6	4.6
Sep 2021	5.9	4.2
Nov 2021	7.5	5.5
Jan 2022	7.8	6.3
Mar 2022	9.0	6.5
May 2022	9.1	6.0
Jul 2022	9.4	5.7
Sep 2022	9.2	7.2
Nov 2022	8.4	7.6
Jan 2023	7.5	7.2
Mar 2023	5.8	7.4
May 2023	4.7	7.0
Jul 2023	4.0	6.4
Sep 2023	4.6	5.8

Food prices increased 0.3 percent for the two months ending in September, led by advances in the index for food away from home (+1.8 percent). Prices for food at home decreased 0.9 percent for the two-month period. The largest contributor to the decline in the food at home index came from the fruits and vegetables category, which fell 5.1 percent in August and September.

Over the year, food prices increased 4.6 percent. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) led most of this advance, rising 9.2 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 0.9 percent.

The energy index increased 3.1 percent for the two months ending in September, with all components contributing to the rise. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for gasoline (+2.7 percent), but the indexes for electricity and natural gas service also advanced, up 2.3 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively, over the two-month period.

From September 2022 to September 2023, energy prices fell 6.2 percent, largely due to lower prices for electricity (-15.4 percent), but a decrease in the natural gas service index (-17.1 percent) also contributed. Prices paid for gasoline were up 6.3 percent over the past year, slightly offsetting these declines.

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.0 percent in August and September, after decreasing 0.1 percent in June and July. Higher prices for shelter (+1.7 percent), education and communication (+2.4 percent), and apparel (+4.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-6.9 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 5.8 percent, largely driven by increases from components within the shelter index: owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+8.5 percent), rent of primary residence (+7.0 percent) and lodging away from home. Other components contributing to the increase included recreation (+5.3 percent) and education and communication (+3.4 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in used cars and trucks (-7.5 percent).

The November 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, December 12, 2023.

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

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