Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area ranked sixth in the nation for rising inflation
(The Center Square) – The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metropolitan area in Washington state ranked No. 6 in WalletHub’s study released Tuesday of cities where inflation is rising the most.
That’s an improvement from last month’s No. 5 ranking.
To determine its rankings of 23 metro areas across the country, the personal finance website looked at changes in the Consumer Price Index over the past two months, as well as changes over the last year.
An important economic metric, the CPI is a monthly measure of U.S. prices for household goods and services.
WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez spoke about some of the factors accounting for the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area’s top 10 ranking.
“Seattle metro has the sixth highest rise in inflation,” she reiterated in an email to The Center Square. “The Consumer Price Index was 8.4% higher in December compared to a year before, the fourth biggest increase in the country.”
Gonzalez provided some context – and some cautiously optimistic economic news.
“However, compared to October, the Consumer Price Index was higher by just 0.1% in December, indicating a slowdown in inflation,” she explained. “This is in line with the national trend, and it shows that the aggressive Fed rate hikes are successful in reining in inflation.”
The annual inflation rate in the U.S. slowed slightly to 6.4% in January from 6.5% in December.
On Feb. 1, the Federal Reserve announced that it had raised its key federal funds rate by 0.25% in an attempt to slow inflation.
It was the smallest rate hike since the central bank began a vigorous anti-inflation campaign that has seen nearly monthly rate hikes since last March.
The Fed said in a same-day news release that it’s likely more rate increase are coming.
“The [Federal Open Market] Committee anticipates that ongoing increases in the target range will be appropriate in order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time,” the release said.
Per the WalletHub study, the five metro areas where inflation is rising the most:
1. Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida
2. Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, Florida
3. Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, California
4. San Diego-Carlsbad, California
5. Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas
The five metro areas where inflation is rising the least.
23. Anchorage, Alaska
22. Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, Texas
21. Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Virginia-Maryland, West Virginia
20. San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California
19. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, Michigan
