Consumer Price Index, South Region – December 2020

News Release Information

21-62-ATL
Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Prices in the South up 0.2 percent over the month and 1.4 percent over the year

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for the South rose 0.2 percent in December, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. The energy index increased 2.1 percent over the month, while the food index inched up 0.1 percent. The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in December. (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 rose 1.4 percent for the 12 months ending December 2020. The index for all items less food and energy increased 1.7 percent over the past year, while the food index advanced 3.5 percent. In contrast, the energy index declined 6.9 percent over the past 12 months. (See chart 1 and table 1.)

View Chart Data

Food

The food index inched up 0.1 percent in December. The food away from home index rose 0.3 percent in December, while the food at home index was unchanged over the month.

The food index advanced 3.5 percent for the 12 months ending in December, reflecting increases in the food at home (3.7 percent) and food away from home (3.4 percent) indexes.

Energy

The energy index increased 2.1 percent in December, led by a 4.8-percent increase in the gasoline index. The utility (piped) gas service index rose 0.9 percent in December, while the electricity index edged down 0.3 percent over the month.

The energy index declined 6.9 percent for the 12 months ending in December, reflecting a 14.9-percent fall in the gasoline index. The electricity and the utility (piped) gas service indexes increased over the past year, up 0.7 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively.

All items less food and energy

The index for all items less food and energy was unchanged in December. Several indexes increased over the month, including motor vehicle insurance (2.5 percent) and shelter (0.1 percent). Among the indexes to decline in December include apparel (-1.3 percent) and used cars and trucks (-1.0 percent).

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.7 percent for the 12 months ending in December, led by a 2.1-percent increase in the shelter index. Over the past year, the used cars and trucks index jumped 9.7 percent, while the medical care index advanced 2.1 percent-reflecting a 2.8-percent increase in the medical care services index. Apparel (-4.9 percent) was among the indexes to decline over the year.

Geographic divisions

Additional price indexes are now available for the three divisions of the South. Over the month, the all items CPI-U increased 0.5 percent in the East South Central division. The all items index also increased in the West South Central and South Atlantic divisions in December, up 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Over the year, the all items index advanced 1.7 percent in the East South Central division. The all items index rose 1.6 percent in the South Atlantic division and 0.8 percent in the West South Central division.

Month	2016		2017		2018		2019		2020
	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month	1-month	12-month
January	0.0	1.2	0.5	2.6	0.5	1.8	0.2	1.2	0.3	2.3
February	0.1	0.7	0.2	2.8	0.6	2.1	0.5	1.1	0.2	1.9
March	0.6	0.7	0.0	2.2	0.2	2.3	0.7	1.6	-0.1	1.1
April	0.4	0.9	0.2	2.0	0.4	2.4	0.5	1.8	-0.8	-0.2
May	0.4	0.9	0.0	1.7	0.3	2.7	-0.1	1.4	-0.2	-0.4
June	0.4	0.8	0.2	1.5	0.2	2.7	-0.1	1.1	0.6	0.3
July	-0.2	0.7	-0.2	1.6	0.0	2.9	0.3	1.4	0.6	0.6
August	0.1	1.0	0.4	1.9	-0.1	2.4	-0.1	1.4	0.4	1.1
September	0.2	1.4	0.7	2.4	0.0	1.7	0.0	1.3	0.2	1.3
October	0.1	1.5	-0.2	2.0	0.2	2.1	0.2	1.3	0.1	1.3
November	-0.1	1.6	-0.1	2.1	-0.3	1.9	0.0	1.6	-0.1	1.2
December	0.1	2.0	-0.1	1.8	-0.5	1.5	0.0	2.1	0.2	1.4

The Consumer Price Index for January 2021 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, February 10, 2021.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) 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 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/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.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals 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
Expenditure category
All Items	250.542	250.255	250.693	1.4	0.1	0.2
All items (December 1977=100)	406.415	405.948	406.658	-	-	-
Food and beverages	265.137	264.708	264.929	3.3	-0.1	0.1
Food	266.835	266.363	266.717	3.5	0.0	0.1
Food at home	249.979	248.472	248.420	3.7	-0.6	0.0
Cereal and bakery products	291.226	289.993	290.178	3.6	-0.4	0.1
Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs	259.841	259.046	257.114	3.6	-1.0	-0.7
Dairy and related products	231.033	229.524	231.963	4.4	0.4	1.1
Fruits and vegetables	289.543	288.455	287.711	2.3	-0.6	-0.3
Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials	178.083	173.863	173.569	3.6	-2.5	-0.2
Other food at home	219.555	219.127	220.064	4.6	0.2	0.4
Food away from home	294.665	295.680	296.626	3.4	0.7	0.3
Alcoholic beverages	241.302	241.455	239.884	0.4	-0.6	-0.7
Housing	251.051	251.126	251.340	2.0	0.1	0.1
Shelter	291.148	291.301	291.652	2.1	0.2	0.1
Rent of primary residence	307.332	307.514	308.157	2.8	0.3	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of residences	294.216	294.448	295.103	2.5	0.3	0.2
Owners' equiv. rent of primary residence	294.215	294.446	295.102	2.5	0.3	0.2
Fuels and utilities	241.757	242.207	242.278	1.8	0.2	0.0
Household energy	192.226	192.472	192.226	1.1	0.0	-0.1
Energy services	192.665	192.880	192.567	1.2	-0.1	-0.2
Electricity	190.845	190.057	189.435	0.7	-0.7	-0.3
Utility (piped) gas service	188.868	195.726	197.490	4.5	4.6	0.9
Household furnishings and operations	127.271	126.908	126.780	1.4	-0.4	-0.1
Apparel	126.286	124.596	122.932	-4.9	-2.7	-1.3
Transportation	202.628	202.005	203.954	-1.7	0.7	1.0
Private transportation	203.199	201.983	204.288	-1.1	0.5	1.1
New and used motor vehicles	106.095	106.027	105.825	4.9	-0.3	-0.2
New vehicles	153.660	153.609	154.331	1.5	0.4	0.5
New cars and trucks	104.620	104.582	105.073	1.5	0.4	0.5
New cars	152.581	152.070	152.771	0.8	0.1	0.5
Used cars and trucks	155.685	153.497	151.978	9.7	-2.4	-1.0
Motor fuel	177.125	170.948	179.237	-14.9	1.2	4.8
Gasoline (all types)	176.178	169.958	178.186	-14.9	1.1	4.8
Unleaded regular	170.433	164.181	172.657	-15.3	1.3	5.2
Unleaded midgrade	204.934	198.764	205.825	-12.3	0.4	3.6
Unleaded premium	206.022	200.920	205.790	-12.0	-0.1	2.4
Motor vehicle insurance	890.770	899.496	921.782	-4.1	3.5	2.5
Medical care	491.017	490.370	489.780	2.1	-0.3	-0.1
Medical care commodities	349.128	348.368	348.391	-1.1	-0.2	0.0
Medical care services	539.054	538.444	537.648	2.8	-0.3	-0.1
Professional services	375.417	374.973	375.268	2.3	0.0	0.1
Recreation	122.955	122.364	122.526	0.9	-0.3	0.1
Education and communication	136.026	136.393	136.554	2.3	0.4	0.1
Tuition, other school fees, and child care	1,373.882	1,374.115	1,374.049	1.3	0.0	0.0
Other goods and services	445.724	446.410	446.748	3.0	0.2	0.1
Commodity and service group
All Items	250.542	250.255	250.693	1.4	0.1	0.2
Commodities	184.829	183.795	184.216	0.6	-0.3	0.2
Commodities less food and beverages	148.229	147.022	147.498	-1.1	-0.5	0.3
Nondurables less food and beverages	186.004	183.639	185.081	-5.1	-0.5	0.8
Nondurables less food, beverages, and apparel	222.954	220.166	223.325	-5.1	0.2	1.4
Durables	110.559	110.146	110.016	3.1	-0.5	-0.1
Services	316.871	317.392	317.840	1.9	0.3	0.1
Rent of shelter	299.232	299.371	299.735	2.1	0.2	0.1
Transportation services	344.680	352.057	353.988	-2.3	2.7	0.5
Other services	357.514	357.070	357.249	2.2	-0.1	0.1
Special aggregate indexes
All items less medical care	237.474	237.206	237.692	1.3	0.1	0.2
All items less food	247.786	247.527	247.976	1.0	0.1	0.2
All items less shelter	235.802	235.344	235.817	1.0	0.0	0.2
Commodities less food	150.988	149.810	150.237	-1.0	-0.5	0.3
Nondurables	223.493	222.055	222.912	-0.5	-0.3	0.4
Nondurables less food	188.928	186.718	187.977	-4.7	-0.5	0.7
Nondurables less food and apparel	223.482	220.972	223.690	-4.6	0.1	1.2
Services less rent of shelter	349.034	350.049	350.613	1.6	0.5	0.2
Services less medical care services	297.026	297.631	298.171	1.7	0.4	0.2
Energy	180.850	178.100	181.834	-6.9	0.5	2.1
All items less energy	258.969	258.926	259.037	2.0	0.0	0.0
All items less food and energy	258.029	258.059	258.129	1.7	0.0	0.0
Commodities less food and energy commodities	147.933	147.327	146.835	1.3	-0.7	-0.3
Energy commodities	180.657	174.532	182.870	-14.7	1.2	4.8
Services less energy services	330.020	330.573	331.099	1.9	0.3	0.2
- Data not available. Regions defined as the four Census regions. South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.