The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., metropolitan area rose 2.6 percent from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2012, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the increase was broad-based with higher prices for shelter and food having the largest upward impact on the index. Costs for energy rose 2.0 percent, food prices were up 5.3 percent, and the all items less food and energy index advanced 2.0 percent.

Food

Food prices rose 5.3 percent from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2012, more than twice the 2.5-percent increase registered in the same period one year ago. Costs for food at home advanced 6.8 percent, the largest over-the-year gain since 1990, and accounted for over three-fourths of the increase in the food component. Costs for food away from home were up 3.7 percent over the year.

Energy

The energy index increased 2.0 percent from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2012, following a sharp advance of 21.3 percent in the same period one year ago. An increase of 3.2 percent in motor fuel prices had the greatest impact on the energy component, though this was the smallest annual gain since 2007. A decline in motor fuel costs in the earlier half of the period helped to offset rising costs in the most recent six-month period. Prices for electricity were up 3.9 percent over the year, following an increase of 17.6 percent in the same period a year ago. Utility (piped) gas service costs declined 4.2 percent over the year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 2.0 percent from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2012. Higher costs for shelter, up 2.9 percent, led the advance. Other components that contributed to the increase included apparel (6.7 percent), medical care (2.5 percent), and education and communication (1.7 percent). In contrast, the index for household furnishings and operations decreased 1.7 percent over the year.

The St. Louis CPI-U stood at 213.921 for the first half of 2012. This means that a market basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in 1982-84 cost $213.92 in the first half of 2012. Because metropolitan area CPI data are not adjusted for seasonal price variation, consumers and businesses should be cautious in drawing conclusions about long-term retail price trends from short-term changes in the metropolitan area indexes.

CPI-W

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) for the St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., metropolitan area for the first half of 2012 was 214.712. The CPI-W increased 2.7 percent from the first half of 2011 to the first half of 2012.

Technical Note

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 88 percent of the total population and (2) a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) which covers approximately 29 percent of the total 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 87 urban areas across the country from about 4,000 housing units and approximately 26,000 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 (1982-84) that equals 100.0. An increase of 16.5 percent, for example, is shown as 116.5. This change can also be expressed in dollars as follows: the price of a base period "market basket" of goods and services in the CPI has risen from $10 in 1982-84 to $11.65. For further details see the CPI home page on the Internet at www.bls.gov/cpi and the BLS Handbook of Methods, Chapter 17, The Consumer Price Index, available on the Internet at www.bls.gov/opub/hom/homch17_a.htm.

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 areas; they only measure the average change in prices for each area since the base period.

The St. Louis, Mo.-Ill., Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair Counties in Illinois; and Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, Warren, and Washington Counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

For personal assistance or further information on Consumer Price Indexes, as well as other Bureau products, contact the Mountain-Plains Information Office at (816) 285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT.

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Last Modified Date: August 15, 2012