Inflation is plunging across the U.S., but not for residents of this Southern state

Inflation is rapidly cooling across the U.S. — unless you live in Florida.

Residents in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach area saw prices shoot up 9% in May compared with a year earlier. By comparison, nationwide inflation for the same period was less than half that rate, with prices rising 4% in May compared with a year earlier. People living in the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater area have it slightly easier, with inflation rising at a 7.3% annual pace, but that's still much higher than the U.S. as a whole.

The reason for Florida's painfully high prices boils down to one essential category of spending: housing. Almost half a million people moved to the state from July 2021 to July 2022, more than double the number in the prior year, according to the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council.