Prices in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), fell 0.3 percent for the two months ending in June 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 declined 0.2 percent, largely driven by decreases in the indexes for lodging away from home and apparel. The energy index fell 1.4 percent in May and June, almost entirely due to a decline in gasoline prices. The index for food increased 0.1 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 increased 2.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent over the year. Energy prices advanced 5.6 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of electricity. Food prices rose 1.8 percent. (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, June 2021–June 2024

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Jun 2021	4.6	3.1
Aug 2021	5.3	3.5
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

Food prices increased 0.1 percent for the two months ending in June. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) advanced 1.2 percent, while prices paid for food at home (grocery store prices) fell 1.0 percent for the same period. Within the food at home category, the index for cereals and bakery products (-4.0 percent) led the declines, followed by dairy and related products (-4.2 percent). A rise in prices paid for fruits and vegetables (+0.4 percent) slightly offset decreases in the index.

Over the year, food prices increased 1.8 percent. Prices for food away from home rose 3.5 percent, and prices for food at home advanced 0.1 percent since June 2023. An increase in the index for fruits and vegetables (+4.8 percent) drove most of the rise in the food at home index. A decline in the prices paid for other food at home (-3.5 percent) and cereals and bakery products (-4.8 percent) partially offset the increase.

The energy index declined 1.4 percent for the two months ending in June. The decrease was entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-5.6 percent). Prices for electricity increased 5.1 percent, while prices for natural gas service rose for the same period.

From June 2023 to June 2024, energy prices advanced 5.6 percent, largely due to higher prices for electricity (+17.6 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service increased, while the index for gasoline fell 3.2 percent during the past year.

The index for all items less food and energy decreased 0.2 percent in the latest two-month period. The indexes for lodging away from home, apparel (-6.0 percent), and public transportation led the declines. Higher prices for other goods and services (+1.1 percent), education and communication (+0.4 percent), and motor vehicle maintenance and repair partially offset these decreases.

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent. The indexes for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+3.6 percent), rent of primary residence (+3.8 percent), and apparel (+9.6 percent) led the advances. Decreasing prices for used cars and trucks (-10.8 percent), household furnishings and operations (-3.6 percent), and public transportation partially offset increases to the index.

The August 2024 Consumer Price Index for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday September 11, 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 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.