August 15, 2025 • 6 mins
Gordon Byrd speaks with Chip Lupo of personal finance website Wallethub about two surveys of special interest to Florida. One finds Tampa Bay and South Florida among the top ten markets for inflation, while the Best States To Live In report ranks Florida 6th, still top tier but down from 2nd.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. Well, on this
edition of Beyond the News, we're going to be taking
a look at a couple of economic trends that are
affecting and impacting areas of the state of Florida. Chip
Loopo of walletub joins us to talk about them. Chip Loophole,
thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
My pleasure, Gordon, thank you having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well. First topic that I wanted to bring up with
you was inflation. You have some results out on that.
It's cooled a bit, but it's still sitting at about
two point seven percent as of July according to the
federal numbers, and of course the target rate for the
Federal Reserve is two percent. But a couple of places
in Florida have it worse than others. You're out with
(00:40):
a ranking of cities and that shows that Tampa is
number three for inflation and the area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale,
West Palm Beach, basically South Florida, is at number seven. First,
let me ask you what factors put these Florida markets
in the top ten.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, it's interesting because because what we did is that
we evaluated the twenty three major metro areas. Now, of
course with Tampa, we're also talking about Saint Petersburg clear
Water to basically the entire Gulf region there, and we
measured it on a bi monthly basis on the base
on the change in the Consumer Price Index, and we
also did a similar comparison from the latest month. We
(01:22):
had data from a year ago, so that gives us
a short term and a long term picture snapshot on
how each area is doing economically. And for Tampa's Saint Petersburg,
they were third out of twenty three msas. Now, this
is a study where it's good to be at the bottom,
so number three is not is not a very good number.
(01:45):
A little over one percent jump in the two month
CPI change, but well over three per three point three percent,
that's that's a that's a disturbing number from where they were.
So it looks like the snap shot for Tampa is
that it's based on a year ago. That's not much improvement.
(02:05):
In facting seemed to be getting a little bit worse.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
And uh, what what factors are you tracking? And I
suspect there are similar ones for the Miami Fort Lauderdale,
South Florida market as well. What factors are you tracking
tracking their contributing to this inflation? Is it? Is it
primarily a housing thing or are there other factors as well.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Housing is a factor, but when it comes to the CPI,
it measures more less goods, and housing is definitely a
factor rising housing costs availability and when Florida in general
as a state, the median income is is about average
(02:46):
for the entire country. So this media annual income is
not high enough to really afford to keep up with
the rising cost of housing in Florida. That's one. Food
and inner costs, those are also key drivers that's driving
inflation in both Miami and in Tampa. Now there's some
(03:07):
relief because Florida's gas prices have leveled often and they're
pretty low comparatively.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Something else that has come out of wallet hob recently
is you do your annual rankings of the best states
to live in, and in that ranking, Florida moved down
a few notches. If you could tell us about that, Yeah, Florida.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Now this is a study where it's good to be
at the top. So Florida at six out of the
fifty states. There's a good solid number Floridians would prefer
to be in the top five. Now, the one thing,
well a couple of things, primarily, what kept Florida out
of the top five, which by the way, is Massachusetts, Idaho,
(03:51):
New Jersey. That raised a lot of eyebrows, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Florida ranked thirty second overall in affordability according to according
to our study, forty seventh in housing affordability. As we
had mentioned earlier, say, Florida has a median annual income
(04:12):
of about seventy one thousand dollars, and in a lot
of areas in and around Florida, that's not really enough
to sustain housing costs. So that's one thing that kept
Florida out of the top five. But other areas Florida
was did extremely well. The economy is overall good. There's
(04:33):
a high population growth, people are flocking into the state,
there's a high income growth, ranks high in general tax friendliness,
even more so if you're able to do away with
the property taxes, and there's a high entrepreneurial activity in
the state of Florida. Going I'm gonna sare quick anecdote
with you. We at while at HUB when I first
started here in twenty eighteen, we were headquartered in Washington,
(04:56):
d C now post COVID. Around twenty twenty one or so,
our CEO had grown tired of the draconian lockdowns and
all the restrictions in DC basically took his ball and
headquartered down in Miami, which where we've been for the
last couple of years now.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And certainly that's You're one of many as far as
relocation of individuals and businesses, and so some trends that
we will continue to follow here over the next few
weeks and months and years. What trends tend to move
states up and down in those rankings.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Generally it's a lot of it's policy driven, but it's
usually based on things such as tax friendliness. Safety is
always a driver, and again that depends usually on legislative
local legislature, how law enforcement friendly they are budget wise,
and things such as quality of schools and quality of hospitals.
(05:59):
People don't put enough emphasis on that, particular with public hospitals,
and that's one area where Florida could see some room
for improvement. Bring all those things together, and again with
what Florida has going for a good quality of life,
I should also mention that Florida does have the most
restaurants per capita, so it's definitely a good food town
for people who want to go out and have a
(06:20):
nice dinner.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
It does seem that way, and absolutely we appreciate your
taking the time to talk with us. CHADLOOPO of walletub,
thank you very much for joining us on beyond the
News My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Gordon, thank you so much.
Gordon Bird here with Beyond the News. Well, on this
edition of Beyond the News, we're going to be taking
a look at a couple of economic trends that are
affecting and impacting areas of the state of Florida. Chip
Loopo of walletub joins us to talk about them. Chip Loophole,
thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
My pleasure, Gordon, thank you having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Well. First topic that I wanted to bring up with
you was inflation. You have some results out on that.
It's cooled a bit, but it's still sitting at about
two point seven percent as of July according to the
federal numbers, and of course the target rate for the
Federal Reserve is two percent. But a couple of places
in Florida have it worse than others. You're out with
(00:40):
a ranking of cities and that shows that Tampa is
number three for inflation and the area of Miami, Fort Lauderdale,
West Palm Beach, basically South Florida, is at number seven. First,
let me ask you what factors put these Florida markets
in the top ten.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, it's interesting because because what we did is that
we evaluated the twenty three major metro areas. Now, of
course with Tampa, we're also talking about Saint Petersburg clear
Water to basically the entire Gulf region there, and we
measured it on a bi monthly basis on the base
on the change in the Consumer Price Index, and we
also did a similar comparison from the latest month. We
(01:22):
had data from a year ago, so that gives us
a short term and a long term picture snapshot on
how each area is doing economically. And for Tampa's Saint Petersburg,
they were third out of twenty three msas. Now, this
is a study where it's good to be at the bottom,
so number three is not is not a very good number.
(01:45):
A little over one percent jump in the two month
CPI change, but well over three per three point three percent,
that's that's a that's a disturbing number from where they were.
So it looks like the snap shot for Tampa is
that it's based on a year ago. That's not much improvement.
(02:05):
In facting seemed to be getting a little bit worse.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
And uh, what what factors are you tracking? And I
suspect there are similar ones for the Miami Fort Lauderdale,
South Florida market as well. What factors are you tracking
tracking their contributing to this inflation? Is it? Is it
primarily a housing thing or are there other factors as well.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Housing is a factor, but when it comes to the CPI,
it measures more less goods, and housing is definitely a
factor rising housing costs availability and when Florida in general
as a state, the median income is is about average
(02:46):
for the entire country. So this media annual income is
not high enough to really afford to keep up with
the rising cost of housing in Florida. That's one. Food
and inner costs, those are also key drivers that's driving
inflation in both Miami and in Tampa. Now there's some
(03:07):
relief because Florida's gas prices have leveled often and they're
pretty low comparatively.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Something else that has come out of wallet hob recently
is you do your annual rankings of the best states
to live in, and in that ranking, Florida moved down
a few notches. If you could tell us about that, Yeah, Florida.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
Now this is a study where it's good to be
at the top. So Florida at six out of the
fifty states. There's a good solid number Floridians would prefer
to be in the top five. Now, the one thing,
well a couple of things, primarily, what kept Florida out
of the top five, which by the way, is Massachusetts, Idaho,
(03:51):
New Jersey. That raised a lot of eyebrows, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
Florida ranked thirty second overall in affordability according to according
to our study, forty seventh in housing affordability. As we
had mentioned earlier, say, Florida has a median annual income
(04:12):
of about seventy one thousand dollars, and in a lot
of areas in and around Florida, that's not really enough
to sustain housing costs. So that's one thing that kept
Florida out of the top five. But other areas Florida
was did extremely well. The economy is overall good. There's
(04:33):
a high population growth, people are flocking into the state,
there's a high income growth, ranks high in general tax friendliness,
even more so if you're able to do away with
the property taxes, and there's a high entrepreneurial activity in
the state of Florida. Going I'm gonna sare quick anecdote
with you. We at while at HUB when I first
started here in twenty eighteen, we were headquartered in Washington,
(04:56):
d C now post COVID. Around twenty twenty one or so,
our CEO had grown tired of the draconian lockdowns and
all the restrictions in DC basically took his ball and
headquartered down in Miami, which where we've been for the
last couple of years now.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
And certainly that's You're one of many as far as
relocation of individuals and businesses, and so some trends that
we will continue to follow here over the next few
weeks and months and years. What trends tend to move
states up and down in those rankings.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Generally it's a lot of it's policy driven, but it's
usually based on things such as tax friendliness. Safety is
always a driver, and again that depends usually on legislative
local legislature, how law enforcement friendly they are budget wise,
and things such as quality of schools and quality of hospitals.
(05:59):
People don't put enough emphasis on that, particular with public hospitals,
and that's one area where Florida could see some room
for improvement. Bring all those things together, and again with
what Florida has going for a good quality of life,
I should also mention that Florida does have the most
restaurants per capita, so it's definitely a good food town
for people who want to go out and have a
(06:20):
nice dinner.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
It does seem that way, and absolutely we appreciate your
taking the time to talk with us. CHADLOOPO of walletub,
thank you very much for joining us on beyond the
News My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Gordon, thank you so much.
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