(Bloomberg) -- New Yorkers are coping with the US’s biggest price increases, driven by housing and household energy costs.
Consumer prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City metro area rose 4.3% from a year ago in November, highest among the 12 metro areas measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month — and well above the 2.7% average in the country.
The rate in New York was the highest since March 2023 and marked a significant increase from the 2.9% rate the metro hit in February.
At the peak of the inflation flare in 2022, New York City never saw the double-digit rates experienced by some cities in the South. But now the metro is seeing a re-acceleration in price growth at a time when inflation is either easing or at least not worsening elsewhere in the country.
Housing costs are rising faster than the average. Shelter prices in the New York metro area rose 5.7% in November, compared with a 4.7% gain nationally. And household energy prices saw a sharp year-over-year gain, with natural gas service costs spiking almost 14% over the year, BLS data show.
The federal government measures inflation in 23 metro areas, with New York, Los Angeles and Chicago reporting monthly and the others reporting bimonthly.
--With assistance from Alex Tanzi and Michael Sasso.
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