WYOMING — The Wyoming Cost of Living Index (WCLI) for the second quarter of 2026 has been released, and the state’s inflation rate has risen to nearly 4% since the last report from the fourth quarter of 2025.
The report indicates that the cost of living in Teton County is about 77% higher than than the statewide average. The WCLI is made up of two components: inflation and the Comparative Cost of Living Index (CCLI). Inflation measures year-over-year change (annual), and the CCLI compares each county’s cost of living in one period (not over time) to the statewide average. The CCLI ranked Teton County as the county with the highest prices for all consumer items ranked.
The state of Wyoming Economic Analysis Division releases the WCLI twice a year, following the second and fourth quarters.
“The inflation figures for the second quarter of 2026 represent the percent change in the price level of a standard basket of selected consumer items priced in the second quarter of 2026, compared with the price level of the same goods and services recorded one year prior (second quarter of 2025),” the report reads.
According to the report, the state saw an inflation rate of 3.9%, which is up from last quarter’s 3.4% rate. Statewide inflation broken down into consumer categories rose the following amounts: housing by 4.5%, transportation by 4.3%, apparel by 4.0%, medical by 2.8%, food by 2.7%, and recreation and personal care by 2.4%.
The CCLI ranks each county’s price level compared to the statewide average of 100. Behind Teton County’s ranking of 177, there are four other regions with rankings higher than the state average: Lincoln County – Afton at 113; Laramie County at 105; and Sheridan and Sublette counties both at 102. Lincoln County was split into an Afton-region sample segment and a Kemmerer-region sample segment in 2003.
Teton County leads the state in the average rental rate for four home types: apartment, mobile home lot, house, and mobile home. The average rental rate for an apartment in Teton County is $3,641, up 7.8% from a year ago. The biggest percentage change in apartment rental rates since last year was in Sheridan County, which saw an 11.4% jump, from $869 to $968. The average rental rate for a house in Teton County sits at $4,332, increasing only $32 since the second quarter of 2025.
Price data is collected in 28 cities and towns in Wyoming, and the data is used to build the CCLI by county. The WCLI estimates overall inflation rates for Wyoming, and five designated regions of the State – Northeast, Southeast, Northwest, Central and Southwest. See the full report here.
