The U.S. inflation rate hit a 40-year high after the pandemic but has since cooled significantly due to factors like the Federal Reserve rate hikes. The year-over-year inflation rate sits at 2.7% as of June 2025, which is the highest since February. Various factors, such as the war in Ukraine, labor shortages and recent tariffs, drive this higher than average inflation. Despite the country not meeting its target yet, the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at the level set in December 2024. And with that, Phoenix is the city with the lowest inflation problem, according to an analysis from Wallethub.
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Inflation rates differ across the U.S., though. To determine how inflation is impacting people in different parts of the country, WalletHub compared 23 major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics related to the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. We compared the Consumer Price Index for the latest month for 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.
Main Findings
Cities With the Biggest Inflation Problems
| 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 | Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | 84.72 | 1.40% | 2.70% |
| 2 | Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | 77.35 | 1.10% | 3.00% |
| 3 | Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI | 72.76 | 0.80% | 3.50% |
| 4 | St. Louis, MO-IL | 70.41 | 1.10% | 2.50% |
| 5 | San Diego-Carlsbad, CA | 69.23 | 0.60% | 3.80% |
| 6 | New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA | 68.91 | 0.70% | 3.50% |
| 7 | Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 62.39 | 1.00% | 2.20% |
| 8 | Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD | 62.29 | 0.60% | 3.30% |
| 9 | Urban Honolulu, HI | 61.65 | 0.80% | 2.70% |
| 10 | Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA | 56.41 | 0.70% | 2.60% |
| 11 | Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, FL | 55.66 | 0.50% | 3.10% |
| 12 | Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD | 46.58 | 0.30% | 3.00% |
| 13 | Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI | 46.05 | 0.90% | 1.30% |
| 14 | Minneapolis-St.Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | 45.94 | 0.50% | 2.40% |
| 15 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | 44.87 | 0.40% | 2.60% |
| 16 | Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA | 41.67 | 0.10% | 3.20% |
| 17 | Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA | 41.45 | 0.60% | 1.80% |
| 18 | Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX | 33.76 | 0.40% | 1.80% |
| 19 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | 31.30 | 0.30% | 1.90% |
| 20 | San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA | 21.90 | 0.20% | 1.50% |
| 21 | Anchorage, AK | 19.44 | 0.10% | 1.60% |
| 22 | Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX | 5.56 | 0.10% | 0.60% |
| 23 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | 3.85 | 0.20% | 0.20% |
