Cost of living increases

Alexis Barker
NLJ Reporter
 
The northeastern counties in Wyoming, including Weston County, recorded the highest annual increase in the cost of living in the state at 4.8 percent, according to a report from the Economic Analysis Division of the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information for the fourth quarter of 2018. The state as a whole experienced a 2.5 percent increase in annual inflation for all areas included in the report. 
“The Wyoming Cost of Living Index (WCLI) consists of two parts, inflation, which measures year-over-year change (annual) and the Comparative Cost of Living Index which compares each county’s cost of living in one period (not over time) to the statewide average (100),” the report states. 
In the Comparative Cost of Living Index, Weston County was 91 for all items included in the report. Transportation and recreational/personal care were 102 and 104, respectively. The rest of the categories came in at 95 for food, 82 for housing, 94 for apparel and 97 for medical. Only transportation and recreational/personal care, according to the report, are higher than the statewide average.
In the inflation part of the survey, average rental rates in Weston County have increased, except for mobile homes, according to the report. Apartment rental costs have increased by 1.8 percent from $566 in the fourth quarter of 2017 to $576 in the fourth quarter of 2018. Mobile home lot rental increased by 3.6 percent during the same time period, while the rental costs for mobile homes dropped by 1.2 percent from $529 to $522. 
Housing in Weston County experienced the largest increase in rental rates at 11.5 percent, or $73. 
Looking at the region as a whole, northeast Wyoming experienced a 2.1 percent increase in apartment rentals, a 1.4 percent increase in mobile home lot rentals, a 3.6 percent increase in house rentals and a 0.1 percent increase in mobile home rentals.