Ingram's August 2022

live in North Dakota, but you’ll wake up each day in … well, North Dakota. This is not to pick a fight with our neighboring plainsmen to the north, but there are reasons Missouri’s population is eight times that of the Peace Garden State. The bigger concern for policy-mak ers in this environment is the inflation ary impact, especially on working fami lies. Here, again, Missouri ranks closer to the middle of the pack by those con gressional estimates, which suggest the impact of that inflationary surge on a typical household in this state works out to $8,788. That’s not an insignificant amount for any household, but it’s well down from the five-figure bite being taken out of household budgets in the na tion’s capital, Colorado and Utah. D.C., in fact, topped the country with added costs of more than $1,000 a month over the past 18 months— $12,243 on an annualized basis. There are a couple of reasons why increased cost-of-living metrics show up more prominently here. Housing, for one. While the entire nation has seen prices for single-family homes and rentals absolutely explode since the pandemic, the increases in Mis souri distort what had long been a source of pride—affordable living. An other off-the-chart expense, gasoline, has had more of a per-household bite here because we burn more of it, driv ing more than folks do in a lot of dense ly populated eastern states with more sophisticated public transit. How does that all shake out? Cur rent indices that score the compara tive costs for housing, transportation, health care, groceries, utilities, and miscellaneous goods—where a score of 100 equals the national average— have Missouri very nearly bringing up the rear, at No. 47, and a score of 87.1. Even after what we’ve been through since 2021 dawned, that kind of afford ability is less than half the cost of liv ing for No. 1 Hawaii, with a composite score of 192.9, and well below states like California (No. 2, at 151.7) or New York (No. 3, at 139.1). So, yes, things cost more here this

OVERALL INFLATION COSTS, UNNUALIZED

CUMULATIVE INFLATION RATES, JAN. '21-JUNE '22

$

$

STATE NAME

OVERALL INFLATION COSTS, UNNUALIZED

INCREASE IN PRICE SINCE JANUARY '21

RANK

STATE NAME

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

District of Columbia

$12,242.89 $10,897.55 $10,575.52 $9,908.02 $9,691.80 $9,686.73 $9,662.81 $9,492.09 $9,451.00 $9,437.98 $9,258.74 $9,179.28 $9,177.68 $9,143.74 $9,065.16 $9,060.88 $9,046.46 $9,002.06 $8,984.63 $8,977.82 $8,872.13 $8,787.89 $8,751.28 $8,743.50 $8,702.74 $8,550.01 $8,510.82 $8,489.33 $8,455.24 $8,435.81 $8,367.33 $8,336.41 $8,287.67 $8,127.89 $8,092.86 $8,030.72 $7,786.28 $7,726.78 $7,691.12 $7,473.53 $7,369.55 $7,349.68 $7,308.61 $7,270.35 $7,220.38 $7,197.57 $7,099.33 $6,920.70 $6,895.21 $6,865.36 $6,719.28

Texas

14.95% 14.95% 14.95% 14.95% 14.91% 14.91% 14.91% 14.91% 14.91% 14.91% 14.91% 14.91% 14.47% 14.47% 14.47% 14.47% 14.47% 13.75% 13.75% 13.75% 13.75% 13.75% 13.75% 13.75% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.70% 13.39% 13.39% 13.39% 13.39% 12.41% 12.41% 12.41% 12.41% 12.41% 11.35% 11.35% 11.35% 11.06% 11.06% 11.06% 11.06% 11.06% 11.06%

Colorado

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$8,615.79 Source: U.S. Congress Joint Economic Commission

United States 13.28% Source: U.S. Congress Joint Economic Commission

year. They cost more everywhere. In the final analysis, though, it’s con- siderably cheaper to live in Missouri

than almost any other state—includ ing, oddly, one tied for No. 23 at 98.8, North Dakota).

The bottom line: It remains more affordable here— by a considerable margin—than most any other state that boasts the types of cultural, educational, health care, and entertainment options you'll find in Missouri.

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D e s t i n a t i o n M i s s o u r i . c o m

Missouri's Business Media

2022