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News Release Information

24-500-KAN
Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (816) 285-7000

Consumer Price Index, St. Louis area – February 2024

Area prices rose 1.6 percent in January and February, up 3.6 percent over the year

Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.6 percent for the two months ending in February 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 increased 1.6 percent in January and February, largely due to higher costs for medical care services and owners’ equivalent rent of residence. The energy index rose 2.6 percent, mainly due to a rise in prices paid for gasoline. The index for food advanced 0.8 percent over the two-month period. (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 3.6 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 4.8 percent over the year. Energy prices fell 3.3 percent, and food prices declined 0.6 percent over the same period. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

Food prices advanced 0.8 percent for the two months ending in February. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 1.4 percent, and prices for food at home (grocery store prices) rose 0.4 percent for the same period. Within the food a home category, the index for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials and cereal and bakery products contributed most to the rise in the index at 5.4 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. A decline in the prices paid for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-1.6 percent) and fruits and vegetables (-1.2 percent) partially offset the rise in the index.

Over the year, food prices fell 0.6 percent. Prices for food away from home fell 1.3 percent. Prices for food at home decreased 0.1 percent, with the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-4.5 percent) contributing most to the over-the-year decline. A rise in the index for nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials (+7.9 percent) largely offset the increase in the food at home index.

Energy

The energy index increased 2.6 percent for the two months ending in February. The increase was largely due to higher prices for gasoline (+4.6 percent), but higher prices for electricity (+0.8 percent) also contributed. Prices paid for natural gas service decreased 0.4 percent for the same period.

From February 2023 to February 2024, energy prices fell 3.3 percent, with a decrease in the index for electricity (-5.1 percent) contributing most to the decline. Prices paid for gasoline fell 3.0 percent, and prices paid for natural gas service decreased 2.0 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 1.6 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for medical care services, shelter (+1.4 percent), and apparel (+5.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for used cars and trucks (-3.3 percent), motor vehicle maintenance and repair, and alcoholic beverages (-2.6 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.8 percent. Components contributing to the increase included owners’ equivalent rent of residence (+7.2 percent), medical care (+5.2 percent), and rent of primary residence (+6.2 percent).

The April 2024 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 15, 2024.


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 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 St. Louis, MO-IL, area covered in this release includes Bond, Calhoun, Clinton, Jersey, Macoupin, Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair counties in Illinois; and Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, St. Charles, St. Louis, and Warren counties and St. Louis City in Missouri.

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.

Table 1. Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U): Indexes and percent changes for selected periods,
St. Louis, MO-IL (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and Group Indexes Percent change from -
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024
Feb.
2024
Feb.
2023
Dec.
2023
Jan.
2024

All items

276.991 - 281.311 3.6 1.6 -

All items (1967 = 100)

822.710 - 835.540      

Food and beverages

327.316 - 329.108 -0.4 0.5 -

Food

326.357 - 329.100 -0.6 0.8 -

Food at home

292.448 293.509 293.733 -0.1 0.4 0.1

Cereals and bakery products

253.546 252.865 259.408 -0.9 2.3 2.6

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

288.848 282.536 284.267 -4.5 -1.6 0.6

Dairy and related products

191.388 195.594 189.635 2.7 -0.9 -3.0

Fruits and vegetables

423.200 423.972 418.044 -3.0 -1.2 -1.4

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

224.120 231.338 236.119 7.9 5.4 2.1

Other food at home

312.579 314.304 313.370 0.8 0.3 -0.3

Food away from home

384.243 - 389.716 -1.3 1.4 -

Alcoholic beverages

305.390 - 297.580 4.9 -2.6 -

Housing

273.095 - 276.413 5.7 1.2 -

Shelter

324.619 325.954 329.150 6.6 1.4 1.0

Rent of primary residence

297.692 298.852 302.148 6.2 1.5 1.1

Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)

341.321 343.088 346.020 7.2 1.4 0.9

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)

341.321 343.088 346.020 7.2 1.4 0.9

Fuels and utilities

262.424 - 263.454 -0.9 0.4 -

Household energy

226.429 226.319 227.689 -3.8 0.6 0.6

Energy services

228.688 228.688 229.632 -4.0 0.4 0.4

Electricity

212.910 212.911 214.688 -5.1 0.8 0.8

Utility (piped) gas service

216.148 216.148 215.318 -2.0 -0.4 -0.4

Household furnishings and operations

141.261 - 142.536 4.2 0.9 -

Apparel

139.562 - 147.164 4.6 5.4 -

Transportation

241.609 - 242.686 3.4 0.4 -

Private transportation

247.744 - 249.151 3.6 0.6 -

New and used motor vehicles(3)

119.059 - 118.107 -0.4 -0.8 -

New vehicles(1)

263.014 - 263.211 0.7 0.1 -

Used cars and trucks(1)

403.693 - 390.182 -1.6 -3.3 -

Motor fuel

275.647 270.859 287.804 -3.2 4.4 6.3

Gasoline (all types)

269.945 265.578 282.316 -3.0 4.6 6.3

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

258.749 254.587 271.012 -3.2 4.7 6.5

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

330.559 325.015 343.148 -1.8 3.8 5.6

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

289.724 284.814 299.114 -1.1 3.2 5.0

Medical care

500.265 - 530.216 5.2 6.0 -

Recreation(3)

134.962 - 136.841 2.3 1.4 -

Education and communication(3)

151.880 - 152.853 -1.1 0.6 -

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

1,420.999 - 1,435.828 5.9 1.0 -

Other goods and services

382.409 - 397.672 4.6 4.0 -

Commodity and service group

Commodities

224.103 - 226.216 -0.1 0.9 -

Commodities less food and beverages

175.580 - 177.696 0.1 1.2 -

Nondurables less food and beverages

238.273 - 244.668 1.0 2.7 -

Durables

118.568 - 118.178 -1.0 -0.3 -

Services

331.758 - 338.368 6.1 2.0 -

Special aggregate indexes

All items less shelter

262.681 - 266.961 2.3 1.6 -

All items less medical care

265.744 - 268.812 3.4 1.2 -

Commodities less food

180.612 - 182.420 0.2 1.0 -

Nondurables

282.386 - 286.550 0.2 1.5 -

Nondurables less food

244.149 - 249.408 1.1 2.2 -

Services less rent of shelter(2)

347.037 - 356.190 5.7 2.6 -

Services less medical care services

315.636 - 319.534 6.1 1.2 -

Energy

251.041 248.694 257.519 -3.3 2.6 3.5

All items less energy

283.099 - 287.320 3.9 1.5 -

All items less food and energy

276.285 - 280.747 4.8 1.6 -

(1) Indexes on an March 1978=100 base.
(2) Indexes on a November 1982=100 base.
(3) Indexes on a December 1997=100 base.
(4) Special index based on a substantially smaller sample.
(5) Index on a December 1993=100.

- Data not available.

 

Last Modified Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2024