Consumer Price Index, St. Louis area – December 2020

News Release Information

21-35-KAN
Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Area prices up 0.1 percent over the past two months, up 1.2 percent from a year ago

Prices in the St. Louis area, as measured by the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), crept up 0.1 percent for the two months ending in December 2020, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the December increase was most influenced by higher prices within the all items less food and energy index. (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 1.2 percent. (See chart 1.) The index for all items less food and energy increased 2.2 percent over the year. In contrast, energy prices declined 7.8 percent and food prices were unchanged. (See table 1.)

Food

Food prices declined 0.8 percent for the two months ending in December. (See table 1.) Prices for food at home declined 1.6 percent, with the largest contributor being lower prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs. In contrast, prices for food away from home advanced 0.4 percent for the same period.

Over the year, food prices were unchanged. This reflected the combined effects of a 2.4-percent price increase for food at home and a 3.0-percent decrease in prices for food away from home.

Energy

The energy index increased 0.3 percent for the two months ending in December. The increase was mainly due to higher prices for motor fuel (0.5 percent) and electricity (0.2 percent). In contrast, prices for natural gas service crept down 0.1 percent for the same period.

Energy prices declined 7.8 percent over the year, led by lower prices for motor fuel (-14.8 percent). Prices paid for natural gas service decreased 1.8 percent and electricity prices decreased 0.6 percent during the past year.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.2 percent in the latest two-month period. Higher prices for other goods and services (4.2 percent), new vehicles (3.0 percent), and recreation (2.4 percent) were partially offset by lower prices for apparel (-5.3 percent), shelter (-0.3 percent), and used cars and trucks (-2.8 percent).

Over the year, the index for all items less food and energy increased 2.2 percent. Components contributing to the increase included shelter (3.2 percent) and new and used motor vehicles (4.4 percent). Partly offsetting the increases were price decreases in motor vehicle insurance (-7.8 percent) and apparel (-1.3 percent).

The February 2021 Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis area is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Impact on December 2020 Consumer Price Index Data

Data collection by personal visit for the Consumer Price Index (CPI) program has been suspended since March 16, 2020. When possible, data normally collected by personal visit were collected either online or by phone. Additionally, data collection in December was affected by the temporary closing or limited operations of certain types of establishments. These factors resulted in an increase in the number of prices considered temporarily unavailable and imputed. While the CPI program attempted to collect as much data as possible, many indexes are based on smaller amounts of collected prices than usual, and a small number of indexes that are normally published were not published this month. Additional information is available at https://www.bls.gov/covid19/effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-consumer-price-index.htm.

Technical Note

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measures 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/cpiand 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: [phone]; Federal Relay Service: [phone].

Item and Group	Indexes			Percent change from -
	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020	Dec. 2020	Dec. 2019	Oct. 2020	Nov. 2020
All items	234.108	-	234.239	1.2	0.1	-
All items (1967 = 100)	695.339	-	695.730
Food and beverages	266.327	-	264.633	0.7	-0.6	-
Food	263.802	-	261.731	0.0	-0.8	-
Food at home	246.864	242.836	242.851	2.4	-1.6	0.0
Cereals and bakery products	219.380	-	217.572	1.6	-0.8	-
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	270.669	-	260.438	4.3	-3.8	-
Dairy and related products	156.728	-	163.154	-3.9	4.1	-
Fruits and vegetables	389.094	-	383.595	-0.9	-1.4	-
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	177.215	-	172.618	2.6	-2.6	-
Other food at home	242.339	-	238.417	5.2	-1.6	-
Food away from home	292.239	-	293.302	-3.0	0.4	-
Alcoholic beverages	263.711	-	266.072	8.5	0.9	-
Housing	232.696	-	232.753	3.1	0.0	-
Shelter	277.900	276.253	277.182	3.2	-0.3	0.3
Rent of primary residence	256.678	257.334	255.815	2.5	-0.3	-0.6
Owners' equivalent rent of residences	289.273	290.382	289.952	2.7	0.2	-0.1
Owners' equivalent rent of primary residence	289.273	290.382	289.952	2.7	0.2	-0.1
Fuels and utilities	208.680	-	213.328	1.4	2.2	-
Household energy	176.242	176.984	176.471	-1.0	0.1	-0.3
Energy services	177.949	178.694	178.127	-1.0	0.1	-0.3
Electricity	176.183	176.090	176.544	-0.6	0.2	0.3
Utility (piped) gas service	149.067	151.164	148.890	-1.8	-0.1	-1.5
Household furnishings and operations	125.408	-	125.038	4.5	-0.3	-
Apparel	131.567	-	124.607	-1.3	-5.3	-
Transportation	184.935	-	185.199	-2.1	0.1	-
Private transportation	187.267	-	188.176	-1.5	0.5	-
New and used motor vehicles	95.578	-	96.331	4.4	0.8	-
New vehicles	206.531	-	212.786	1.0	3.0	-
Used cars and trucks	333.581	-	324.217	10.3	-2.8	-
Motor fuel	184.417	178.839	185.270	-14.8	0.5	3.6
Gasoline (all types)	181.475	175.847	182.007	-14.8	0.3	3.5
Gasoline, unleaded regular	173.524	168.106	174.100	-15.1	0.3	3.6
Gasoline, unleaded midgrade	224.073	218.077	224.839	-12.3	0.3	3.1
Gasoline, unleaded premium	196.683	190.466	196.190	-12.2	-0.3	3.0
Motor vehicle insurance	529.875	-	529.875	-7.8	0.0	-
Medical care	466.946	-	464.677	-0.3	-0.5	-
Recreation	117.260	-	120.045	1.9	2.4	-
Education and communication	144.057	-	144.111	2.0	0.0	-
Tuition, other school fees, and childcare	1,261.841	-	1,265.112	0.4	0.3	-
Other goods and services	315.633	-	328.896	-0.6	4.2	-
Commodity and service group
Commodities	186.736	-	186.153	0.1	-0.3	-
Commodities less food and beverages	148.493	-	148.328	-0.2	-0.1	-
Nondurables less food and beverages	193.898	-	193.351	-3.8	-0.3	-
Durables	104.177	-	104.227	3.4	0.0	-
Services	282.641	-	283.418	1.9	0.3	-
Special aggregate indexes
All items less shelter	220.744	-	221.193	0.3	0.2	-
All items less medical care	222.423	-	222.666	1.4	0.1	-
Commodities less food	153.054	-	152.964	0.2	-0.1	-
Nondurables	230.094	-	228.987	-1.3	-0.5	-
Nondurables less food	200.094	-	199.772	-2.7	-0.2	-
Services less rent of shelter	294.942	-	297.344	0.6	0.8	-
Services less medical care services	265.347	-	266.207	2.0	0.3	-
Energy	181.059	179.002	181.566	-7.8	0.3	1.4
All items less energy	242.172	-	242.273	1.9	0.0	-
All items less food and energy	238.579	-	238.995	2.2	0.2	-
- Data not available.