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News Release Information

23-686-DAL
Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (972) 850-4800

Consumer Price Index, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area – March 2023

Area prices rose 1.3 percent in February and March, up 5.8 percent over the year

Prices in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), advanced 1.3 percent for the two months ending in March 2023, 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 rose 1.9 percent in February and March, largely due to price increases for shelter. The food index increased 1.2 percent, while the energy index fell 4.2 percent over the past two months. (Data in this report are not seasonally adjusted. Accordingly, bi-monthly changes may reflect seasonal influences.)

Over the last 12 months, the CPI-U advanced 5.8 percent. The index for all items less food and energy rose 7.4 percent, and food prices increased 8.7 percent over the year. Energy prices declined 11.8 percent, almost entirely the result of a decrease in the price of gasoline. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

Food

Food prices increased 1.2 percent for the two months ending in March. Prices for food away from home advanced 1.8 percent, while prices for food at home increased 0.6 percent over the same period. The category for other food at home (which includes sugar, sweets, fats, and oils) contributed most to the two-month increase at 2.9 percent. Partially offsetting the index was a decline in the categories for fruits and vegetables (-1.2 percent) and meats, poultry, fish, and eggs (-0.9 percent).

Over the year, food prices increased 8.7 percent. Prices for food away from home (restaurant, cafeteria, and vending purchases) increased 11.8 percent since a year ago. Prices for food at home (grocery store prices) increased 6.3 percent, with all six major grocery store food group indexes contributing to the rise.

Energy

The energy index declined 4.2 percent for the two months ending in March. The decrease was due to lower prices for electricity (-10.0 percent) and natural gas service (-16.5 percent). Partially offsetting these declines, prices for gasoline rose 4.4 percent over the same period.

From March 2022 to March 2023, energy prices declined 11.8 percent, almost entirely due to lower prices for gasoline (-19.2 percent), but falling prices for natural gas service (-5.6 percent) also contributed. Prices for electricity fell 1.1 percent, the first over the year decline in the index since June 2021.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.9 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for owners' equivalent rent of residences (+1.2 percent), lodging away from home, and recreation (+3.0 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for medical care services, and household furnishings and operations (-0.5 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy advanced 7.4 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (+10.6 percent), household furnishings and operations (+6.2 percent) and recreation (+5.7 percent). Falling prices for used cars and trucks (-10.1 percent) partly offset these increases.

The May 2023 Consumer Price Index for the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington area is scheduled to be released on Tuesday, June 13, 2023.


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 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, Core Based Statistical Area includes the counties of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Somervell, Tarrant, and Wise.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals 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,
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, March 2023 (1982-84=100 unless otherwise noted)
Item and GroupIndexesPercent change from -
Jan.
2023
Feb.
2023
Mar.
2023
Mar.
2022
Jan.
2023
Feb.
2023

All items

281.117-284.8625.81.3-

All items (1967 = 100)

881.850-893.596   

Food and beverages

317.450-321.0768.51.1-

Food

312.713-316.3118.71.2-

Food at home

264.772266.102266.4056.30.60.1

Cereals and bakery products

304.263-307.8247.41.2-

Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs

312.658-309.8851.2-0.9-

Dairy and related products

229.853-232.1978.31.0-

Fruits and vegetables

231.747-228.8661.7-1.2-

Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials(1)

228.817-229.97710.20.5-

Other food at home

258.083-265.60511.62.9-

Food away from home

384.749-391.69311.81.8-

Alcoholic beverages

374.239-378.0904.71.0-

Housing

284.645-285.3559.00.2-

Shelter

316.180319.578321.05810.61.50.5

Rent of primary residence

341.588343.097345.81811.11.20.8

Owners' equivalent rent of residences(2)

338.258340.385342.46610.21.20.6

Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence(2)

338.258340.385342.46610.21.20.6

Fuels and utilities

323.505-297.0720.0-8.2-

Household energy

303.096296.267269.686-2.1-11.0-9.0

Energy services

299.055292.284265.693-1.9-11.2-9.1

Electricity

277.856278.096250.200-1.1-10.0-10.0

Utility (piped) gas service

330.461288.216275.807-5.6-16.5-4.3

Household furnishings and operations

142.656-141.9416.2-0.5-

Apparel

115.327-121.0402.65.0-

Transportation

249.546-259.996-0.44.2-

Private transportation

255.086-264.787-1.83.8-

New and used motor vehicles(3)

131.770-132.491-0.90.5-

New vehicles(1)

225.895-226.7625.00.4-

Used cars and trucks(1)

436.991-437.584-10.10.1-

Motor fuel

279.797282.294291.014-19.14.03.1

Gasoline (all types)

276.462279.233288.652-19.24.43.4

Gasoline, unleaded regular(4)

265.906268.458277.803-19.64.53.5

Gasoline, unleaded midgrade(4)(5)

293.613296.895305.828-17.74.23.0

Gasoline, unleaded premium(4)

295.732299.641307.367-16.23.92.6

Medical care

509.552-506.2482.6-0.6-

Recreation(3)

127.388-131.1645.73.0-

Education and communication(3)

131.135-133.803-0.52.0-

Tuition, other school fees, and childcare(1)

1,331.980-1,331.6412.70.0-

Other goods and services

494.955-502.0435.41.4-

Commodity and service group

Commodities

204.962-207.8190.21.4-

Commodities less food and beverages

157.851-160.272-4.11.5-

Nondurables less food and beverages

197.426-203.821-5.23.2-

Durables

125.303-125.531-1.50.2-

Services

354.614-359.2208.71.3-

Special aggregate indexes

All items less shelter

265.242-268.4303.01.2-

All items less medical care

269.983-274.0276.11.5-

Commodities less food

163.111-165.582-3.81.5-

Nondurables

250.810-256.0071.32.1-

Nondurables less food

205.201-211.480-4.73.1-

Services less rent of shelter(2)

402.813-406.5816.20.9-

Services less medical care services

336.964-342.2209.51.6-

Energy

292.577290.176280.356-11.8-4.2-3.4

All items less energy

285.488-290.5567.61.8-

All items less food and energy

281.368-286.6157.41.9-

(1) Indexes on a February 1978=100 base.
(2) Indexes on a December 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: Wednesday, April 12, 2023