Saturday, February 20, 1999
Tristate cost of living up 2% in '98
BY JOHN J. BYCZKOWSKI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The cost of living rose 2.0 percent in Greater Cincinnati in 1998, the second smallest increase since 1986, but still slightly higher than the rate nationwide.
PRICE CHANGES
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Here are the percentage changes for Greater Cincinnati in the eight categories of expenditures that make up the Consumer Price Index:
Food, beverages +2.3%
Housing +3.3%
Apparel -2.8%
Transportation -0.7%
Medical care +1.5%
Recreation 0%
Education &
communication 0%
Other good
& services +5.2%
All items +2.0%
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It's largely a matter of Cincinnati catching up to the rest of the country. For three straight years, 1995 through 1997, cost-of-living increases were smaller in Cincinnati than in the rest of the country.
Given that pay raises averaged 3 percent to 4 percent, Cincinnatians saw their standard of living increase, because prices rose less than their incomes.
Richard Stevie, general manager of market analysis at Cinergy Corp., called the difference between the local and national rates — 2.0 percent vs. 1.6 percent — minor.
“Consumers have very strong purchasing power,” he said.
Among the components of the price index:
• Food and beverage prices rose 2.3 percent in Greater Cincinnati. That's the first time in four years the local increase was larger than the national increase (2.2 percent in 1998). Alcoholic beverage prices rose 2.8 percent.
• Housing costs rose 3.3 percent in 1998, again higher than the national average of 2.3 percent. “I'm not surprised,” said Miami University economist James Brock. “There's a boom in housing here.”
Still, over the last 15 years housing costs here have risen only 47 percent, vs. 61 percent nationally.
Nationally, inflation remained tame in January with consumer prices rising just 0.1 percent, the Labor Department reported Friday.
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