The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 0.4 percent in March, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See table A.) The monthly increase in the all items index was influenced by increases in the gasoline and shelter indexes. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, month-to-month changes reflect the impact of seasonal influences.)

The all items CPI-U for the South increased 3.8 percent for the 12 months ending in March, after increasing 3.7 percent for the 12-month period ending in February. (See chart 1 and table A.) The index for all items less and food and energy advanced 4.0 percent over the past 12 months. The food index and the energy index also increased over the past year, up 2.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. (See table 1.)

Food

The food index rose 0.1 percent in March, led by a 0.3-percent increase in the food away from home index. The index for food at home changed little in March, up 0.1 percent. The index for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 1.2 percent over the month, while the index for fruits and vegetables rose 0.3 percent. The remaining four major grocery store food group indexes declined in March.

The food index advanced 2.4 percent for the 12 months ending in March, reflecting increases in the food away from home (+4.2 percent) and food at home (+1.4 percent) indexes. Five of the six major grocery store food group indexes increased over the past 12 months, including fruits and vegetables (+3.0 percent), meat, poultry, fish, and eggs (+2.2 percent), and other food at home (+1.7 percent). In contrast, the index for dairy and related products declined 2.5 percent over the past year.

Energy

The energy index rose 3.1 percent in March, reflecting a 6.2-percent increase in the gasoline index. The index for electricity increased 0.2 percent over the month, while the index for natural gas declined 1.2 percent over the same period.

The energy index increased 3.3 percent for the 12 months ending in March. The electricity index and the gasoline index contributed to the increase, up 4.6 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively. The natural gas index declined 0.4 percent over the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in March, primarily due to a 0.4-percent increase in the shelter index. Within shelter, the indexes for owners’ equivalent rent and rent of primary residence each rose 0.3 percent over the month.

The index for all items less food and energy advanced 4.0 percent for the 12 months ending in March, after increasing 4.4 percent for the 12-month period ending in February. The index for shelter (+6.2 percent) was the largest contributor as owners’ equivalent rent (+6.3 percent) and rent of primary residence (+6.5 percent) continued to increase over the past year.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. In March, the all items index increased 0.7 percent in the East South Central division, 0.4 percent in the South Atlantic division, and 0.3 percent in the West South Central division.  

Over the year, the all items index increased in each of the three divisions of the South: East South Central (+4.0 percent), South Atlantic (+3.9 percent), and West South Central (+3.6 percent).

Table A. South region CPI-U 1-month and 12-month percent changes, all items index, not seasonally adjusted

Month	2020		2021		2022		2023		2024
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.3	2.3	0.5	1.6	0.9	7.8	0.8	6.9	0.6	3.4
February	0.2	1.9	0.5	2.0	1.1	8.4	0.6	6.4	0.9	3.7
March	-0.1	1.1	0.8	2.9	1.4	9.1	0.4	5.3	0.4	3.8
April	-0.8	-0.2	0.7	4.4	0.5	8.8	0.7	5.5
May	-0.2	-0.4	0.8	5.6	1.2	9.2	0.2	4.4
June	0.6	0.3	0.9	5.8	1.5	9.8	0.3	3.3
July	0.6	0.6	0.5	5.8	0.1	9.4	0.2	3.4
August	0.4	1.1	0.3	5.6	-0.2	8.9	0.6	4.1
September	0.2	1.3	0.3	5.8	0.2	8.7	0.2	4.2
October	0.1	1.3	1.0	6.6	0.4	8.1	-0.1	3.7
November	-0.1	1.2	0.4	7.2	0.1	7.7	-0.2	3.4
December	0.2	1.4	0.3	7.4	-0.3	7.0	-0.1	3.7

The Consumer Price Index for April 2024 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 15, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index for the South region is published monthly. 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, 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 South region is comprised of Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

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