Inflation Outpaces Wages in Most US Cities, But LA Bucks Trend

(Bloomberg) -- Wage growth was easing in most US cities by the end of last year and remained below the inflation rate in almost all of them, according to the latest regional pay data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Los Angeles was one exception among major metro areas, posting an increase in wages and salaries for 2022 that was faster than the rise in local consumer prices.

© Bloomberg Wage Growth Divergence By Metro | Among 10 metros with available data, only residents of Los Angeles are seeing an increase in inflation-adjusted pay

The new BLS data for December, published on Tuesday, show wage growth easing almost across the country, including in cities like Miami, Phoenix and Atlanta that have been hotspots for both pay and inflation. Wages in those places are still growing faster than in most of their peers, with Miami topping the list, but they’re all lagging behind local inflation indicators. 

Seattle was the only one of the 15 metro areas studied by the BLS where wage growth was still accelerating at the end of last year. It reached a record 6.2% annual pace in December, up from 2.4% in mid-2021. 

Phoenix and Houston were among the cities that saw the sharpest dropoff in wage growth. In Houston, the annual rate dropped to 3.3% in December, from 6.1% in June. In Phoenix, where inflation remains far above the national average at 9.5%, wage growth has slowed to 5%. 

Nationwide, wages and salaries rose 5.1% in the 12 months through December, according to the BLS. The year-end inflation rate was 6.5%. The bureau’s study measures pay in the private sector, excluding government jobs. The comparison between wages and inflation is limited to those metro areas where local consumer-price indexes for December have been published.

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