NPR. Wealing, can you just hold this bed up to the wall?

Oh, yeah, yeah, of course.

Yeah, I just need to get this fold down Murphy bed installed before we start the show we need some

room to record. Oh no Darien you can't use a power drill like that let the

expert show you me all right

there you go dearian solid as a rock I will sleep like a baby

it's a rock thank you wailing Wong. It's looking good.

I think you know you can really do with some more space in this apartment.

I mean what is this even a micro studio?

What do they call this?

No need to shame my new pad.

No shame. It's very cozy. It's like your little

Hobbit Hall. You take what you can get in New York. Rent is the highest in the

US here and it's growing. And all around the country. Shelter costs grew 5.5% over the last year.

That's a slight cooling off from previous months,

and it's a part of why we learned today that

CPI inflation dropped a little to 3.4%.

Shelter makes up nearly a third of the consumer price index or the

CPI. It's the biggest part and it's worth noting that this mainly reflects the cost of rent not house prices which are not included in CPI

And so today on the indicator from Planet Money we're going on a virtual rent tour around the US.

We'll find out what's happening with those monthly checks to the landlord all around the country,

after this short message.

...