Prices in the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 2.4 percent for the two months ending in April 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that this was the largest bi-monthly change in the all items index since June 2008. The food index increased 2.8 percent, and the energy index rose 10.3 percent in March and April. The all items less food and energy index rose 1.5 percent over the past two months, mainly due to increasing prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences and recreation. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U rose 8.5 percent, the largest percent increase since December 1981. The index for all items less food and energy increased 6.9 percent over the year. Energy prices jumped 25.3 percent, largely the result of an increase in the price of gasoline, while food prices advanced 8.7 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, April 2019–April 2022

Month	All items	All items less food and energy
Apr 2019	1.8	1.7
Jun 2019	0.8	1.2
Aug 2019	1.4	2.1
Oct 2019	0.9	2.0
Dec 2019	1.0	1.8
Feb 2020	1.5	1.8
Apr 2020	-1.3	0.2
Jun 2020	-0.2	0.8
Aug 2020	-0.2	0.3
Oct 2020	-0.1	0.3
Dec 2020	0.7	0.7
Feb 2021	1.0	0.0
Apr 2021	4.5	2.8
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

Food

Food prices rose 2.8 percent for the two months ending in April, the largest bi-monthly rise in the index since February 1990. The index for food at home (grocery store prices) advanced 3.5 percent. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) rose 2.1 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices advanced 8.7 percent, the largest increase in the index since August 1981. Prices for food at home increased 9.8 percent since a year ago, mainly due to an increase in prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs. Prices for food away from home increased 7.5 percent over the same period.

Energy

The energy index rose 10.3 percent for the two months ending in April. The increase was mainly due to a jump in prices for gasoline (+21.6 percent), but natural gas service (+2.0 percent) also contributed. Partially offsetting the increase, the index for electricity decreased 4.3 percent over the same period.

From April 2021 to April 2022, energy prices jumped 25.3 percent, largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+45.1 percent), but all energy components contributed to the rise. Prices paid for natural gas service jumped 23.7 percent, while prices for electricity inched up 0.3 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.5 percent in March and April. Higher prices for owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+1.3 percent), recreation (+3.4 percent), and household furnishings and operations (+1.8 percent) were among the largest contributors to the rise. These increases were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-1.8 percent) and apparel (-2.2 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 6.9 percent, the largest 12-month rise since data for this series was published beginning in 1982. Components most contributing to the increase included new and used motor vehicles (+13.1 percent), owners’ equivalent rent of residences (+4.2 percent), household furnishings and operations (+15.8 percent), and recreation (+12.4 percent).

The June 2022 Consumer Price Index for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land area is scheduled to be released on July 13, 2022.

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.