Since 2021, inflation in the U.S. has jumped a whopping 20%, meaning Americans are paying much more for their overall living expenses.[1] That can feel like a big hit to monthly budgets and financial security at home. And the level of pressure varies depending on geographic location and type of expense.
The Zebra set out to find which cities have experienced the worst inflation in recent years based on three data points:
- Increase in health insurance spending: This information gathered by the Kaiser Family Foundation looks at the increase in spending by health insurance companies on health and medical services per enrollee, which can indicate an increase in consumer healthcare costs as well. The data was collected at the state level and reported over a five-year period.
- Increase in grocery prices:
- Increase in home sale prices: Using data from the National Association of Realtors, we collected the average increase in sales price of existing single-family homes between the third quarters of 2023 and 2024.
Find out which cities have been hit the hardest by inflation and see if yours made the list.
Methodology
The Zebra pulled three data points to analyze the top 50 MSAs (by population) in the U.S. related to inflation.
- Increase in health insurance spending[2]
- Increase in grocery prices[3]
- Increase in home sale prices[4]
MSA data was used where applicable, and we sometimes substituted city or state data as necessary.