SAN DIEGO — Hang on to your wallets and clutch your purses — rampant inflation is hitting those in San Diego harder than other cities in the nation, according to a new study.
With the year-over-year inflation rate at 5% in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Federal Reserve hikes have started to slow inflation but Americans are still reeling from last year’s 40-year high. However, inflation appears to be rising more quickly in certain cities.
An analysis by personal-finance website WalletHub, which was released Wednesday, shows San Diego and North County’s Carlsbad in the top 15 cities that are experiencing the most inflation.
Wallethub said it compared 22 major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics related to the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. Then, Wallethub said it compared the Consumer Price Index for the latest month, which BLS data is available to two months prior and one year prior, to get a snapshot of how inflation has changed in the short and long term.
The results are in and these are the top 15 cities where inflation is increasing the most, according to the results of this study.
| 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 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 84.62 | 2.00% | 6.90% |
| 2 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 83.30 | 1.90% | 7.00% |
| 3 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 81.82 | 1.20% | 8.50% |
| 4 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 81.56 | 1.40% | 8.00% |
| 5 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 76.14 | 1.50% | 7.20% |
| 6 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 71.85 | 1.10% | 7.70% |
| 7 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 66.00 | 1.90% | 5.20% |
| 8 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 64.69 | 1.80% | 5.30% |
| 9 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 58.74 | 1.20% | 6.10% |
| 10 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 58.13 | 1.30% | 5.80% |
| 11 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 57.17 | 1.30% | 5.70% |
| 12 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 47.73 | 0.80% | 5.90% |
| 13 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 46.50 | 1.00% | 5.30% |
| 14 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 42.40 | 1.20% | 4.40% |
| 15 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 37.94 | 1.30% | 3.70% |
Is there relief on the horizon? Only time will tell.
