This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Consumer prices along the Wasatch Front rose more rapidly in June than they did elsewhere in the country.

But over the past year, the rate of inflation in Utah's population center (1.8 percent) remains below the national average (2.1 percent), according to the Zions Bank Wasatch Front Consumer Price Index (CPI) report released Tuesday.

Zions spokeswoman Heidi Prokop said Wasatch Front prices rose 0.6 percent between May and June, three times the national increase (0.2 percent). Transportation costs represented the largest portion of the jump, with fuel for vehicles and aircraft climbing 1.8 percent.

" On average, Utahns paid $3.61 per gallon of gasoline in June, up from an average of $3.59 in May," she added.

Higher meat and produce prices pushed food-at-home prices up 0.5 percent. The cost of food eaten away from home went up just 0.1 percent.

Utility bills went up 1.5 percent while education and communication expenses climbed 1.2 percent.

One bright point: The cost of recreating declined 0.5 percent, Prokop noted.

Mike Gorrell