Gasoline prices averaged $5.364 per gallon in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin area in July 2022, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Regional Commissioner Jason Palmer noted that area gasoline prices were up $1.821 compared to July 2021 when they averaged $3.543 per gallon. Chicago area households paid an average of 18.5 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of electricity in July 2022, more than the 14.7 cents per kilowatt-hour paid in July 2021. In July, the average cost of utility (piped) gas was $1.762 per therm, up from its average price of $1.101 cents per therm a year earlier. (Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year-analysis is used throughout.)

The $5.364 per gallon Chicago households paid for gasoline in July 2022 was 59.6 cents more than the nationwide average of $4.768. In the previous four years in July (2018-2021), gasoline prices in the Chicago area were as much as 25.9 cents more per gallon than the U.S. average. (See chart 1.)

The 18.5 cents per kWh that Chicago households paid for electricity in July 2022 was 11.4 percent more than the national average cost of 16.6 cents per kWh. In the past four years in July (2018-2021), Chicago area electricity costs were higher than the national average, ranging from 2.8 percent to 13.7 percent more. (See chart 2.)

Prices paid by Chicago area households for utility (piped) gas, commonly referred to as natural gas, were $1.762 per therm in July 2022, 8.2 percent more than the national average of $1.629 per therm. In the previous four years (2018-2021) in July, Chicago area utility (piped) gas costs were lower than the national average by as much as 25.8 percent less. (See chart 3.)   

The Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, core based statistical area consists of Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties in Illinois; Jasper, Lake, Newton, and Porter Counties in Indiana; and Kenosha County in Wisconsin.

Historical average energy prices for the U.S. and select metropolitan areas are available at www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/data/averageenergyprices_selectedareas_table.htm.

The Consumer Price Index for August 2022 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, July 13, 2022.

Technical Note

Average prices are estimated from Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for selected commodity series to support the research and analytic needs of CPI data users. Average prices for electricity, utility (piped) gas, and gasoline are published monthly for the U.S. city average, the 4 regions, 9 divisions, 2 population size classes, 8 region/size-class cross-classifications, and the 23 largest local index areas. For electricity, average prices per kilowatt-hour (kWh) are published. For utility (piped) gas, average prices per therm are published. For gasoline, the average price per gallon is published. Average prices for commonly available grades of gasoline are published as well as the average price across all grades.

All eligible prices are converted to a price per normalized quantity. These prices are then used to estimate a price for a defined fixed quantity. The average price per kilowatt-hour represents the total bill divided by the kilowatt-hour usage. The total bill is the sum of all items applicable to all consumers appearing on an electricity bill including, but not limited to, variable rates per kWh, fixed costs, taxes, surcharges, and credits. This calculation also applies to the average price per therm for utility (piped) gas.

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. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Midwest Census region, and the Minneapolis area, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation				Wages and salaries
	12-month percent changes for period ended-				12-month percent changes for period ended-
	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.	Mar.	Jun.	Sep.	Dec.
United States
2018	2.8	2.9	2.9	3.0	2.9	2.9	3.1	3.1
2019	2.8	2.6	2.7	2.7	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0
2020	2.8	2.7	2.4	2.6	3.3	2.9	2.7	2.8
2021	2.8	3.1	4.1	4.4	3.0	3.5	4.6	5.0
2022	4.8	5.5	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.7	5.2	5.1
Midwest
2018	2.4	2.5	2.8	3.0	2.4	2.5	3.1	3.3
2019	2.9	2.7	2.6	2.6	3.2	3.0	2.7	2.8
2020	3.0	2.6	2.4	2.5	3.5	2.9	2.7	2.6
2021	2.3	3.1	3.8	4.6	2.2	3.3	4.1	5.1
2022	5.1	5.7	5.8	5.0	5.5	6.0	6.0	5.0
Minneapolis-St. Paul
2018	3.5	3.2	4.5	5.0	3.9	3.1	4.7	5.2
2019	2.7	3.0	3.1	2.5	2.2	2.8	2.8	2.2
2020	3.1	2.6	1.6	1.6	3.6	3.1	2.1	1.8
2021	2.1	2.4	3.4	4.4	2.4	2.4	3.4	4.5
2022	5.1	5.6	5.7	4.9	5.0	5.8	5.9	5.3

Table 2. Employment Cost Index for total compensation and for wages and salaries, private industry workers, United States, Census regions, and localities, not seasonally adjusted

Area	Total compensation			Wages and salaries
	12-month percent changes for period ended-			12-month percent changes for period ended-
	Dec. 2021	Sep. 2022	Dec. 2022	Dec. 2021	Sep. 2022	Dec. 2022
United States	4.4	5.2	5.1	5.0	5.2	5.1
Northeast	3.9	4.8	4.9	4.6	4.6	4.9
Boston-Worcester-Providence	4.2	5.6	5.5	4.8	5.7	5.8
New York-Newark	3.9	4.7	5.1	4.6	4.6	5.0
Philadelphia-Reading-Camden	3.8	4.4	4.1	4.1	4.9	4.4
South	4.5	5.0	5.0	5.1	5.0	5.1
Atlanta-Athens-Clarke County-Sandy Springs	2.5	5.0	4.4	3.1	5.2	4.8
Dallas-Fort Worth	3.6	5.3	5.5	4.6	5.7	5.5
Houston-The Woodlands	3.5	5.4	3.1	3.9	5.9	3.3
Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Port St. Lucie	5.2	6.7	6.3	6.0	7.1	6.8
Washington-Baltimore-Arlington	4.0	4.4	4.3	4.2	4.1	4.3
Midwest	4.6	5.8	5.0	5.1	6.0	5.0
Chicago-Naperville	4.0	4.8	4.4	4.1	4.6	4.4
Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor	3.3	5.6	4.9	3.7	5.0	4.1
Minneapolis-St. Paul	4.4	5.7	4.9	4.5	5.9	5.3
West	4.3	5.1	5.4	4.8	5.5	5.7
Los Angeles-Long Beach	4.8	5.8	5.7	5.5	6.1	5.9
Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale	4.9	5.5	4.4	5.3	6.6	5.0
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland	2.8	4.5	4.6	3.2	4.4	4.5
Seattle-Tacoma	6.3	3.0	3.2	3.8	5.9	6.2