Florida's Inflation Crisis Is Spiraling out of Control

Inflation may still be bad in the U.S., where the consumer price index (CPI) rose by an unexpected 3.5 percent in March compared to a year before, crushing hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates anytime soon. But nowhere else in the country is inflation currently worse than in Florida, where it reached 3.9 percent last month, according to an analysis of index data by Moody's Analytics based on a three-month moving average.

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Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, whose recent unsuccessful bid for the White House ended with the withdrawal of his candidacy and the endorsement of Donald Trump in late January, blamed President Joe Biden for the high rate of inflation in the Sunshine State.

"The inflation coming in, the report, this is not petering out," he said on Wednesday in St. Petersburg. "We need to have lower interest rates and I think what's happened is likely going to prevent that from happening this year. But people are hurting, because all that's reflected in the cost of things that matter to people—housing, mortgages, groceries." he continued. "This is, I think, the wages of Bidenomics."

DeSantis said he will announce further measures to ease inflation in the state in the coming weeks, in addition to tax relief and a reduction in tolls for commuters.

When contacted for comment, a spokesperson for DeSantis referred Newsweek to the governor's comments on the issue on Wednesday.

But why is inflation rising across the country—and growing even more dramatically in Florida?

March marked the third consecutive month of inflation rising in the U.S., driven by a jump in fuel and housing rental costs. On a month-over-month basis, core inflation—which excludes volatile items such as energy and food—grew 0.4 percent from February to March.

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These factors driving up inflation—the high cost of housing and home and car insurance, rent and transportation—are rising across the country, but they're increasing more in the Sunshine State.

In part, the cost of housing and renting has grown out of Florida's booming popularity among Americans relocating across state lines. Thousands of people have moved to the state in recent years, especially since the pandemic, in search of warmer weather and a relatively lower cost of living. Some have moved to Florida out of ideological reasons, choosing to live in a state dominated by DeSantis' conservative policies.

But what in theory is good news for Florida—the second-fastest growing state in the country after South Carolina, according to the U.S. Census data—also drove up the cost of food, housing and rent in the state. In 2023, according to the U.S. Census, Florida added 365,205 residents, growing its population by 1.6 percent. Monthly household inflation costs in Florida, according to the United States Congress Joint Economic Committee, have been growing since January 2021.

The state is undergoing an insurance crisis linked to the increased risk posed by extreme weather events, which are being made more severe and more frequent by climate change. Florida has the highest home insurance premiums in the country, with an average annual rate of $10,996 in 2023, as reported by News-Press. The average annual premium for car insurance is nearly $4,000, according to Bankrate's True Cost of Insurance Report.

After Florida, the other states with the highest 12-month inflation rates are Tennessee (3.8 percent); Virginia (3.8 percent); South Carolina (3.6 percent); and Alabama (3.6 percent).

Update 4/12/2024 11:00 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a response from DeSantis' spokesperson.