Last year, inflation rates reached 9.1%, an almost 40-year high. Since then, rates have been slowing, largely due to interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. As interest rates go up, consumers realize higher commercial interest rates and spending is driven down.
According to Kiplinger’s Inflation Outlook, the inflation rate edged down to a still-high 4.9% in April and should drop to around 3.5% in the next few months. However, despite this decline, Americans are still feeling the effects of inflation, and in certain areas of the country inflation is rising more than others.
In fact, a recent study from WalletHub found the Metropolitan Statistical Areas where inflation is rising the most. To determine this, WalletHub compared major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across the U.S., looking at the Consumer Price Index change for the latest month vs 2 months before. They also compared the CPI change for the latest month vs 1 year ago.
Here’s where WalletHub found inflation was rising the most, based on the short-term Consumer Price Index change (latest month vs 2 months before).
Here’s where WalletHub found inflation was rising the most based on the Consumer Price Index change from the latest month vs 1 year ago.
WalletHub determined each MSA’s weighted average across these metrics to find the top MSAs where inflation is rising the most overall.
According to the data, inflation is rising the most in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida, area. This could be partly due to the fact that an increasing number of homeowners have been considering relocating.
A report from Redfin found that almost 25% of home searchers looked to move to a new metro area at the end of 2022, seeking less expensive areas to live amid high housing costs. This is up from 22.1% a year before and around 18% before the pandemic.
Redfin also listed the 10 metros homebuyers are moving into and found Miami to be third on the list. Furthermore, for the first time since 1957, Florida has become the nation’s fastest-growing state after decades of rapid population growth. Between 2021 and 2022, Florida’s population increased by 1.9%, reaching 22,244,823.
