Pump prices are helping fuel inflation in North Texas.
Gasoline prices leapt 35% in May from the year-period — and about 18% since March, according to a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Around the Dallas-Fort Worth area, those costs rose more than 7% from April.
The broader consumer price index for the D-FW area climbed 2.6% from the year-ago period. Still, that’s down from a bigger increase seen in March.
Nationally, prices climbed more quickly than they did in North Texas, shooting up 4.2% as gasoline climbed more than 40% during May.
Still, future reports could show cooler costs. A gallon of gas nationally was down about 16 cents as of Monday from a week earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“With gas prices down sharply so far in June, May could mark the peak for headline CPI, although inflation will be slow to decline,” said Nancy Vanden Houten, lead U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, in a statement.
In the Dallas area, energy prices shot up about 19% in May. The cost of food was up 2.2%, a cooler pace than the March report showed.
The category for meats, poultry, fish and eggs rose 3.1% while costs for dairy and related products saw a similar increase. Fruits and vegetables were flat.
All items minus food and energy climbed 1.3% from the year-ago period — and down 1.2% from March.
In May, medical care climbed more than 7% from the year-ago period while apparel was up 2.5%.