SEATTLE — Despite a minor dip in prices nationally, consumers are still feeling the squeeze of rising costs — but budgets in western Washington may be a bit tighter than average.
According to consumer price data collected by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, costs in the Seattle-Tacoma region are up about 4.5% from June of last year, the largest overall change in a 12-month period in the entire Western region of the U.S. and second highest in the nation, beating the New York City-Newark, NJ-Jersey City, NJ area by 0.4%.
The only part of the country that saw a greater change was the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Camden region, which saw a year-over change of 5.4%…