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Inflation in Atlanta Tops Major U.S. Cities With 7.9% Price Hike

Inflation in Atlanta Tops Major U.S. Cities With 7.9% Price Hike

Residents of the Atlanta area are experiencing the worst inflation among major U.S. cities, with October prices up 7.9% from a year ago -- more than double the rate in San Francisco.

The St. Louis and Phoenix metro areas also saw inflation above 7% last month, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. The cities are above the national average of 6.2%, which itself was the fastest annual pace since 1990 in the county.

By contrast, prices in San Francisco and New York rose 3.8% of 4.3%, respectively. 

Inflation in Atlanta Tops Major U.S. Cities With 7.9% Price Hike

October inflation data was only available for 14 major cities as of Tuesday, so it’s possible other metropolitan areas saw even higher inflation than Atlanta. 

The numbers highlight a pandemic-era divide, with scorching inflation in regions that have attracted people during the Covid-19 crisis and more moderate increases in the East Coast and West Coast cities they fled.

Transportation costs are leading the way in Atlanta, whose residents paid 21% more for expenses including fuel and vehicles than they were a year ago, the data show. Georgia’s capital also saw outsize gains in the price of clothes, up 11%, as well as recreation and housing. 

The nation’s soaring prices could pressure the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than expected, while also putting President Joe Biden’s nearly $2 trillion tax-and-spending package in further jeopardy in Congress.

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, whose potential vote on the package could be pivotal in a Senate divided 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans, on Wednesday said in a tweet that the “threat posed by record inflation to the American people is not ‘transitory’ and is instead getting worse.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.