Dallas-Fort Worth inflation calculator: CPI-U since 1963

One index for Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington

There is no separate Fort Worth CPI. The BLS publishes a single index for the metropolitan area it names Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, and every price collected across that area feeds it. It is the only BLS index with Dallas in its name. The rest of Texas, outside Dallas and Houston, has no local index; for those places the South region or the Size B/C class is the closer match.

The Dallas series opens in November 1963 and uses the usual base, 1982-84=100. Its latest level, 313.24, tells you how far prices have climbed since that base, not whether Dallas is cheaper or dearer than another city. A CPI cannot rank places by cost.

What is pushing Dallas prices now

The local picture in September 2026 differs from the national one. Shelter rose 1.3 % over a year, slower than the 3.2 % national shelter rate. Energy was +17.4 % and transportation, which includes motor fuel, +6.6 %. Food at home was +3.9 % and medical care +4.4 %. Core prices, all items less food and energy, were +1.7 %.

Those group figures come from a small local sample, and they swing more than national ones. The BLS says local indexes are subject to substantially more sampling and other measurement error, and suggests national or regional indexes for escalator clauses. Read one release as a hint, two or three as a trend.

Dallas next to the South and Houston

Over the latest 12 months, Dallas (3.0 %) ran cooler than the South region and ahead of Houston (1.3 % to August 2026). The two Texas metros sit on opposite calendars: Dallas is priced in odd months, Houston in even ones, so their latest figures never cover the same 12 months. For a side by side view over whole years, the CPI by city page lines up any two areas on annual averages.

Year by year, Dallas inflation was 8.8 % in 2022, 5.2 % in 2023, 3.9 % in 2024 and 1.3 % in 2025. The South posted 8.6 %, 4.5 %, 3.0 % and 2.2 % in the same years.

Record years since 1963

The highest annual rate in the Dallas series is 16.9 %, in 1980. Prices fell on an annual average basis in 2009 and 2015, the only years with a decline since the series began. The full year table under the calculator shows every year back to the first complete one.

Odd months and October 2025

Dallas indexes exist for January, March, May, July, September and November. The BLS lists Dallas among the odd-month areas, which spared it the worst of the 2025 lapse in appropriations: October was never a Dallas month, its November 2025 index was priced normally, and its 2025 annual average uses all six odd months. If you enter an even month, the calculator takes the previous Dallas index and tells you which one.