Inflation may be having larger impact in rural areas, including at businesses on Colorado's Eastern Plains

The phones at Bino's Pizza in Kiowa are rarely quiet and the tables are often filled with locals.

"Every town needs a good pizza place, but we are the best," Jamie Polk said.

Polk owns the restaurant in with her two brothers and their parents.

"We are going on three years of ownership here, but the pizza place has been in town since I can remember," she said.

Her family plans to keep it that way, even as the cost of doing business goes up.

"From our pizza boxes to our pepperoni, we have seen the price increase tremendously. Pizza boxes right now are about triple what we used to pay for them something as small as that," she said.

While there's no escaping an inflation rate now at a 40 year high, researchers at Iowa State University say where you live may be a factor in the impact. 

Looking at U.S. labor statistics, they found that a rapid increase in expenses combined with slower wage growth in rural areas cut disposable income in those communties by 33%.

"A lot of the wages are staying the same. When I started teaching at Kiowa School we didn't make much money and here we are in 2022 and they are still not making a lot of money," Mayor Rick Kolm said.

The mayor says the location likely plays a role as well.

Bringing in a workforce and getting goods in town is often more expensive.

"It just costs us more to live. Gas prices in downtown were $5.56 for unleaded," he said.

Rather than let it shut the town down, some businesses have had to increase prices or adjust hours trying to minimize the impact to those they serve and still make a profit.

"We have a pretty resilient community and a lot of great people in town," the mayor said.

Polk echoed the mayor, saying it's the people that keep things running.

They'll never let a neighbor go without, or a business suffer and that's the biggest benefit," she said.

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