Prices in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), increased 0.2 percent for the two months ending in October 2024, 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 0.5 percent, largely driven by advances in the indexes for public transportation and owners’ equivalent rent of residences. The food index was up 0.4 percent in September and October, while the energy index was down 3.7 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 2.1 percent. The increase was largely driven by the index for all items less food and energy, which increased 2.8 percent over the year. Food prices also rose, up 1.8 percent. Energy prices declined 5.8 percent, largely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

  

View Chart Data

Chart 1. Over-the-year percent change in CPI-U, Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, October 2021–October 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Oct 2021	6.1	3.7
Dec 2021	6.6	4.9
Feb 2022	7.8	6.5
Apr 2022	8.5	6.9
Jun 2022	10.2	6.0
Aug 2022	9.5	7.0
Oct 2022	7.6	6.9
Dec 2022	5.3	5.2
Feb 2023	5.2	5.4
Apr 2023	4.0	5.3
Jun 2023	1.7	5.4
Aug 2023	2.7	4.5
Oct 2023	3.0	3.9
Dec 2023	4.5	5.2
Feb 2024	3.5	3.7
Apr 2024	2.9	2.7
Jun 2024	2.1	1.8
Aug 2024	1.7	2.2
Oct 2024	2.1	2.8

Food prices increased 0.4 percent for the two months ending in October. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 0.8 percent, and prices for food at home (grocery store prices) were unchanged for the same period. Within the food at home index, increases were led by the meats, poultry, fish, and eggs index (+1.6 percent). Declines in the indexes for fruits and vegetables (-1.3 percent) and other food at home (-0.5 percent) offset increases within the grocery index.

Over the year, food prices rose 1.8 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 4.3 percent since a year ago, and prices for food at home fell 0.5 percent. Within the food at home index, the index for other food at home (-4.7 percent) drove most of the decline. The year-over-year rise in the index for fruits and vegetables (+3.5 percent) partially offset the fall in the food at home index.

The energy index declined 3.7 percent for the two months ending in October. The decrease was due to lower prices for gasoline (-9.5 percent). Prices for electricity advanced 6.1 percent, and prices for natural gas service advanced 0.6 percent for the same period.

From October 2023 to October 2024, energy prices declined 5.8 percent, largely due to lower prices for gasoline (-12.2 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service fell 4.1 percent, while prices for electricity advanced 3.7 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy increased 0.5 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for public transportation, owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+0.4 percent), and medical care services were partially offset by lower prices for medical care commodities as well as tuition, other school fees, and childcare (-3.1 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 2.8 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (+2.6 percent), public transportation, and medical care (+1.6 percent). Price decreases in new and used motor vehicles (-3.1 percent) and household furnishings and operations (-2.0 percent) partly offset these over-the-year increases.

The December 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.

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 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas, Core Based Statistical Area includes the counties of Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery, and Waller.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.