Inflation Is Up Everywhere, But How Much Depends on Where You Live
The Northeast isn’t feeling the pain as much as the South or Mountain West. This could have political implications in the 2022 midterms.
Inflation showed signs of easing in the US in July, but a lot depended on where you live. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that consumer prices rose 7.3% over the 12 months through July in the Northeast, 9.4% in the South. So-called core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is better at capturing trends and makes the contrast clearer. In the Northeast it was 4.3% and has been falling since March; in the South and West it was more than 6% and rising.
Among other things, this means that along what’s known as the Acela corridor, where the nation’s media, financial, and government decision-makers cluster, inflation isn’t quite the problem it is elsewhere (metropolitan Washington is included in the South in this data, but inflation there is on the low side for the region). This could have political implications, as could the fact that the major metro areas with the highest reported inflation rates—Phoenix, Tampa-St. Petersburg, and Atlanta—are in states with high-profile Senate races this fall.