Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.9 percent for the two months ending in November 2023, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the all items less food and energy index rose 1.3 percent, largely driven by an increase in the index for owners’ equivalent rent of residence. The energy index fell 3.9 percent in October and November, entirely due to a decline in gasoline prices. The index for food advanced 0.8 percent. (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 5.2 percent after rising 4.6 percent in September. The index for all items less food and energy increased 6.2 percent over the year, while food prices rose 5.1 percent. Energy prices fell 4.0 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

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

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
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
Nov 2023	5.2	6.2

Food prices increased 0.8 percent for the two months ending in November. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) advanced 1.1 percent, and prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 0.5 percent for the same period. The increase in the food at home index was mainly due to a rise in prices for fruits and vegetables (+3.3 percent) and other food at home (+1.8 percent). A decline in the index for cereals and bakery products (-0.9 percent) partially offset the increase.

Over the year, food prices rose 5.1 percent. Prices for food at home advanced 2.2 percent, while the index for food away from home also increased.

The energy index fell 3.9 percent for the two months ending in November. The decrease was entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-16.6 percent). Partially offsetting the two-month decline, prices increased for natural gas service and electricity, 12.7 percent and 8.0 percent, respectively.

From November 2022 to November 2023, energy prices declined 4.0 percent, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-7.2 percent). Prices for electricity fell 0.9 percent during the past year, while prices paid for natural gas service rose 2.8 percent.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.3 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+1.9 percent), rent of primary residence (+1.3 percent), and medical care (+1.8 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-5.2 percent), lodging away from home, and household furnishings and operations (-1.3 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 6.2 percent. Components most contributing to the increase included shelter (+7.9 percent), tuition, other school fees, and childcare (+9.8 percent), and recreation (+3.4 percent). Partly offsetting the advances were price declines in prices for used cars and trucks (-2.8 percent).

The January 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, February 13, 2024.

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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