Denver, Colorado, is suffering from the fastest-growing inflation rate of any U.S. city, new research finds.
Annual inflation rose 3.2 percent last month — a slight increase from June’s 3 percent — the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.
But some cities have fared much worse than others. A study by the personal finance website WalletHub ranked the top five U.S. cities with the biggest inflation problem.
Denver’s annual inflation rate is currently at 4.7 percent — more than a percentage point above the national rate.
More worryingly, inflation has risen the most in the past two months, rising 1.3 percent.
WalletHub analyzed how consumer costs affect people in different cities. It compared 23 major metropolitan statistical areas
It was on par with St. Louis, where inflation also rose 1.3 percent over the past two months. However, St. Louis has a lower annual inflation rate of 3.10 percent.
Researchers also ranked Atlanta, Detroit and Seattle among the top five cities with the worst inflation problems.
In comparison, Anchorage, Alaska, was identified as the region with the “smallest” inflation problem. The city has a negative inflation rate of -3.3 percent, a rate that had changed minimally over the past two months.
Washington, Boston, Chicago and Minneapolis were also identified by researchers as having the “smallest” inflation problems. These cities all had an annual inflation rate of less than 3 percent.
WalletHub analyzed how consumer costs affect people in different cities. It compared 23 major metropolitan statistical areas.
Differences in inflation between different states are often due to their individual real estate markets.
In Denver, for instance, experts said high housing costs kept inflation glowing.
Brian Lewandowski, of Leeds Business Research, recently told CBS Colorado: DPI’s housing component represents 44% of the total basket and for the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood region, it was up 8.8% year over year versus 6.2% for the country and 7.1% for the mountain region.
“That does show that we have a higher price inflation for homes than the whole country.”
It comes after Florida was identified as the state with the highest rate of inflation last month in a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
At the time, analysts blamed skyrocketing interest rates on Florida housing costs.
Inflation in the US has risen to 3.2 percent year on year – up slightly in July from June’s annual increase of 3 percent
The price of used cars and airline tickets fell, while the cost of lodging and car insurance rose
Amanda Phalin, an economist at the University of Florida, said, “A lot of people still come to Florida because the economy is very strong, and many like that we don’t have an income tax like we have in New York. example.
“And in places like Miami, we see a lot of demand for real estate from non-Floridians or non-American investors — generally wealthy people who want a nice house here.”
But the latest data suggests that prices may finally be falling in the Sunshine State.
Tampa and Miami both experienced the smallest price change in the past two months — despite their annual rates being 5.9 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively.
In July, the annual inflation rate nationwide rose to 3.2 percent.
It was the first time in 13 months that the consumer price index has accelerated.
Prices rose 0.2 percent month-on-month through July, mainly driven by housing costs, including rent. This accounted for 90 percent of the monthly increase, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
However, this modest monthly increase is the same as in June, which could potentially prevent the Federal Reserve from raising rates again in September.
The monthly increase was also in line with forecasts, while the annual rate was slightly lower than the 3.3 percent forecast.