In Texas, inflation is causing household crises as many families fail to keep up with rapidly rising rents while food staples and casual-dining options are moving out of reach.

Adjusted for a one-off phenomenon, The Dallas Morning News Texflation index for April rose by 1.5%, dashing hopes that price increases had peaked in the region and the nation. That was somewhat of a slowdown from the reading the previous month, when the shock of the war in Ukraine first registered on the global economy, but it’s still a major leap month-to-month. If inflation continues at the April pace, average prices would be 18% higher a year from now.

Texas cities have been among the hottest property markets in recent years, reflecting an influx of residents from other states. The combination of demand and rising credit costs for landlords has led to a torrid rate of rent increases in recent months.

“That’s a true budget constraint that takes up quite a bit of a person’s monthly income so I think if that continues to go up, that’ll probably be the thing that hurts the most,” said Michael Carroll, director of the economics research group at the University of North Texas, a key adviser on the Texflation index.

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