That’s second only to Honolulu in a sample of 23 major U.S. metropolitan areas, and higher than other cities known for their relatively high costs of living, including New York City and Los Angeles. Inflation in Dallas-Fort Worth has also risen steadily, at 1% over the past two months — making it the worst city in the country for inflation, according to the study.
According to Cassandra Happe, an analyst at WalletHub, the relatively high inflation can be attributed to a “significant housing shortage, combined with restrictive government policies that limit new home construction,” which have caused home prices in Dallas-Fort Worth to soar.
Other factors include “substantial increases in energy prices,” including electricity bills, and continued inflation in key sectors such as medical care and transportation services. Rising medical care costs have been linked to hospital consolidation in recent years, while transportation costs are largely tied to the effects of urban sprawl, the Dallas Morning News reported.
Besides Dallas-Fort Worth, Honolulu is the only other city in the study with annual inflation of 5% or higher.
Below are WalletHub’s rankings of the metro areas with the worst inflation, from worst to best. The rankings are based on an index that is equally weighted between year-over-year inflation and inflation over the past two months starting in June 2024.
- Bi-monthly change: 1.00%
- One year change: 5.00%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.70%
- One year change: 5.20%
- Bi-monthly change: 1.10%
- One year change: 4.20%
- Bi-monthly change: 1.00%
- One year change: 3.40%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.60%
- One year change: 4.00%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.60%
- One year change: 4.00%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.80%
- One year change: 3.40%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.80%
- One year change: 3.30%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.40%
- One year change: 3.80%
- Bi-monthly change: 0.50%
- One year change: 3.20%
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