TAMPA, Florida — As people across the U.S. gripe about high inflation, the Tampa Bay area may have a little more to complain about.
The area including Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater ranked No. 1 for cities where inflation is rising the most, according to a new study conducted by WalletHub. The personal finance site compared 23 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) across two key tricks related to the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation.
Behind the Tampa Bay area, was another Florida MSA: the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach-area.
Researchers with WalletHub say, although, inflation is starting to slow due to factors like the Federal Reserve rate hike, the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and labor shortages are driving points behind the increase.
Cities with the highest Consumer Price Index Change in the last month versus two months before are (highest to lowest) San Diego, Calif.; Tampa, Fla.; Los Angeles Calif.; Riverside, Calif.; and Boston, Mass.
"The government is hoping to continue to rein in inflation with additional aggressive interest rate hikes this year, but exactly how much of an effect that will have remains to be seen," WalletHub said in a news release.
According to one of the experts behind the study, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, an associate professor of economics, said areas with notable price increases include food and shelter.
"Shelter in particular is a serious structural issue and can be alleviated with more affordable housing policies," Tcherneva said in a statement.
How will the country recover from the inflation increase? Robert Wyllie, Ph. D., an assistant professor of political science, said there is no single solution.
"In October, the Fed estimated that American households still had $1.7 trillion in excess savings," Wyllie said in a statement. "Consumer demand ought to fall as this excess savings is spent, and with it, the inflation rate should fall as well."
Areas where inflation is rising the least include the DMV-area, the greater Houston area and Anchorage, Alaska.