(NEXSTAR) – Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve noticed the cost of living – including gas, food, rent and everything else – has gone way up. There is a sliver of hope for residents of certain U.S. cities, where wages are also going up.
MoneyGeek analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the country’s 75 largest metro areas to determine where wages are going up and where they’re going down.
According to data shared with Nexstar, wages grew fastest over the past year in cities across the South. Florida has three cities among the top 10.
Wages grew slower in coastal cities – where pay tends to be highest. San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and San Diego all saw growth between 2% and 5% in 2022.
The 20 cities with the fastest-growing hourly wages, according to MoneyGeek’s analysis, are:
| Metro area | Average hourly wage | Change year-over-year |
| North Port, Florida | $31.22 | 16.80% |
| Virginia Beach, Virginia | $28.31 | 13.51% |
| Austin | $33.41 | 10.12% |
| Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky | $27.99 | 10.07% |
| Detroit | $33.10 | 10.00% |
| Jacksonville, Florida | $32.96 | 9.98% |
| Orlando, Florida | $30.02 | 9.92% |
| Atlanta | $32.88 | 9.53% |
| Providence, Rhode Island | $31.39 | 8.80% |
| Nashville, Tennessee | $31.78 | 8.32% |
| Las Vegas | $27.74 | 8.15% |
| Cleveland, Ohio | $31.24 | 8.06% |
| Fresno, California | $28.27 | 7.86% |
| Miami, Florida | $29.81 | 7.85% |
| Boise, Idaho | $28.33 | 7.76% |
| Albuquerque, New Mexico | $26.48 | 7.69% |
| Memphis, Tennessee | $27.75 | 7.60% |
| Richmond, Virginia | $31.25 | 7.46% |
| Denver | $36.90 | 7.45% |
| Salt Lake City | $33.14 | 7.25% |
The bad news is that even as wages rise across some U.S. cities, most aren’t rising fast enough to keep up with inflation. Year-over-year inflation was at 9.1% in June, and only a handful of cities saw salaries grow equal to or faster than that.
Despite rising costs, five cities actually saw hourly wages drop in 2022.
| Metro area | Average hourly wage | Change year-over-year |
| Bakersfield, California | $29.72 | -0.27% |
| San Jose, California | $49.45 | -0.52% |
| Indianapolis | $29.90 | -0.76% |
| Dayton, Ohio | $29.18 | -1.95% |
| McAllen, Texas | $19.35 | -2.67% |
The national average wage went up 5.11% to $32.08 per hour.