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DENVER (KDVR) — Inflation is at levels unseen since the 1970s, but the Denver area has a silver lining when it comes to real wages.

Inflation went up 9.1% since last June, according to the most recent Consumer Price Index report. Energy prices, in particular gasoline, played a large role in the price increases.

Wages have grown at the same time that inflation has spiked to 40-year-record highs, but not enough to offset inflation. The average American’s purchasing power has fallen in the last year. From June 2021 to June 2022, the so-called “real wages” in the U.S. have fallen by 3.6%.

The Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area looks different, however.

The Denver area is one of the nation’s few large metros in which real wages have actually increased since last June. Real wages went up 1.6% annually.

Denver has the fifth-best maintenance of wages. Only the San Jose, Raleigh, Tampa and Miami areas had higher levels of real wage growth. Most of the nation’s largest cities saw purchasing power drop.

Denver also has one of the nation’s highest weekly earnings.

Denver’s average weekly wage was $1,639 in the last quarter of 2021. Only the Bay Area, Los Angeles and the Boston-Washington D.C. corridor cities have higher weekly wages.