Sun Belt cities, located in the Southeast and Southwest regions of the United States, have had the largest influx of new residents during the pandemic. But right now, they’re having some of the worst inflation in the country, a new study finds.
With the inflation rate eye irrigation 8.3% as of AugustEvery American has had to deal with the increasing cost of goods and services. But inflation can vary by region based on a range of factors, including the availability of goods and services, as well as transportation and shelter costs.
Residents of the Sun Belt are experiencing above-average inflation rates of nearly 10%, according to consumer price index (CPI) data. Cities in this region also had the strongest increases in individual inflation last year.
Using CPI data, personal finance website WalletHub examined the 23 largest US metropolitan areas and gave it a score of 100, where 100 is the highest rate of inflation.
Here are the 10 cities with the worst inflation:
- Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Arizona: 92.11
- Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, Georgia: 87.59
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida: 84.16
- Miami Beach-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm, Florida: 72.84
- Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas: 69.2
- Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California: 68.71
- Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colorado: 67.12
- Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Maryland: 66.79
- Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington, Minnesota-Wisconsin: 62.74
- Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas: 61.99
The top six metropolitan areas with the highest inflation are located in the Belt of the Sun.
In last place is Anchorage, Alaska, followed by the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City. Even before the pandemic, these cities had high costs of living, which may explain the relatively marginal rise in inflation.
Many of the top-ranked cities in the study were migration hotspots earlier in the pandemic, when people have emigrated from the Northeast and parts of California for cheaper properties elsewhere in the country, mainly in the Belt of the Sun.
But with a large influx of new residents, these cheaper real estate markets are no longer as affordable as they used to be.
Even as the housing market cools somewhat due to higher mortgage rates, all of the top-ranked metropolitan areas in the study experienced home price inflation between 15% and 30% in the past year. last year to August, according to data from online brokerage Redfin.
The WalletHub leaderboard is based on CPI data for all goods and services. Notably, housing costs account for 32% of the general consumer price index – largest market share with wide margin. The study’s score was calculated using equally weighted comparisons of home price growth looking back a year, as well as two months ago, using CPI data.
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