In 2022, Americans, especially those of us in Florida are dealing with sky-high inflation. The gauge hit a 40-year high earlier this year. Though inflation has started to slow slightly due to factors like the Federal Reserve rate hikes, the year-over-year inflation rate was still a whopping 7.7% in October. This high inflation is driven by a variety of factors. This includes the continued effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the war in Ukraine and even labor shortages. The government is hoping to continue to rein in inflation with additional aggressive interest rate hikes this year. Exactly how much of an effect that will have remains to be seen.
Inflation is rising more quickly in some places than others, though. In order to determine the cities where inflation is rising the most – and thus is the biggest problem – WalletHub compared 22 major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics related to the Consumer Price Index. The CPI measures inflation. We compared the Consumer Price Index for the latest month for which BLS data is available to two months prior and one year prior. This will give us a snapshot of how inflation has changed in the short and long term. We'll also show how inflation in Florida cities stack up against other parts of the U.S.
Main Findings
Cities Where Inflation is Rising The Most
| Overall Rank | MSA | Total Score | Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 2 months before) |
Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 1 year ago) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 100.00 | 1.40% | 12.10% |
| 2 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 79.24 | 0.90% | 10.10% |
| 3 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 77.62 | 1.10% | 8.50% |
| 4 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 76.78 | 1.00% | 8.90% |
| 5 | Anchorage, AK | 73.91 | 1.10% | 7.60% |
| 6 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 73.49 | 1.10% | 7.50% |
| 7 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 71.72 | 0.50% | 10.70% |
| 8 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 71.38 | 0.90% | 8.20% |
| 9 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 70.97 | 0.90% | 8.10% |
| 10 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 67.21 | 0.70% | 8.40% |
| 11 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 65.89 | 0.30% | 10.50% |
| 12 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 65.52 | 0.50% | 9.20% |
| 13 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 64.79 | 1.00% | 6.00% |
| 14 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 62.27 | 0.80% | 6.60% |
| 15 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 62.23 | 0.60% | 7.80% |
| 16 | Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 55.58 | 0.40% | 7.40% |
| 17 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 49.71 | 0.00% | 8.40% |
| 18 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 47.29 | 0.30% | 6.00% |
| 19 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 46.43 | 0.10% | 7.00% |
| 20 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 41.82 | -0.20% | 7.70% |
| 21 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 36.86 | -0.20% | 6.50% |
| 22 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 31.41 | -0.60% | 7.60% |
Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 2 months before)
- 1. Phoenix, AZ
- T-2. Los Angeles, CA
- T-2. Detroit, MI
- T-2. Anchorage, AK
- T-5. San Francisco, CA
- T-5. Seattle, WA
- 18. St. Louis, MO
- 19. Riverside, CA
- T-20. Denver, CO
- T-20. Washington, DC
- 22. Houston, TX
Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 1 year ago)
- 1. Phoenix, AZ
- 2. Atlanta, GA
- 3. Tampa, FL
- 4. Miami, FL
- 5. Dallas, TX
- 18. St. Louis, MO
- 19. Honolulu, HI
- 20. Washington, DC
- T-21. New York, NY
- T-21. San Francisco, CA
Methodology
In order to determine the cities where inflation is rising the most, WalletHub compared 22 MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics involving the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. The metrics are listed below, along with their corresponding weights. We then determined each MSA’s weighted average across the metrics and used the resulting scores to rank-order our sample.
For each MSA in the sample, we used the latest data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For some MSAs, there is a one-month lag on the data available.
- Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 2 months before): Full Weight (~50.00 Points)
- Consumer Price Index Change (Latest month vs 1 year ago): Full Weight (~50.00 Points)
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were obtained from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
