With the year-over-year inflation rate at 2.4% in May, a month when the effects of higher tariffs were starting to become more widespread, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its updated report on the Changes in Inflation by City.

To determine how inflation is impacting people in different cities, WalletHub compared 23 major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics involving the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation.

The greater Los Angeles area came in as the seventh largest inflation increase of the 23 MSAs.

We compared the Consumer Price Index for the latest month for which BLS data is available to two months prior and one year prior to get a snapshot of how inflation has changed in the short and long term.

The U.S. inflation rate hit a 40-year high after the pandemic but has since cooled significantly due to factors like the Federal Reserve rate hikes. The year-over-year inflation rate sits at 2.4% as of May 2025, which is still above the target rate of 2%. Various factors, such as the war in Ukraine, labor shortages and recent tariffs, drive this higher than average inflation. Despite the country not meeting its target yet, the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates at the level set in December 2024.

Inflation rates differ across the U.S., though. To determine how inflation is impacting people in different parts of the country, WalletHub compared 23 major MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) across two key metrics related to the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation. We compared the Consumer Price Index for the latest month for which BLS data is available to two months prior and one year prior to get a snapshot of how inflation has changed in the short and long term.