At the beginning of the year, Katie Overstreet, 25, could not wait to get her bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.—Sean Wilde holds down five jobs to make ends meet. At Cheyenne Central High School, he is the head coach of the cross country and track teams, as well as assistant coach of the indoor track team. He also works as a junior stylist at Sierra Trading Post and as a massage therapist.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Zak Newbury-VanLove can remember earlier this year when he and his husband, Trenton Newbury-VanLove, began to entertain the idea of buying a house.

GILLETTE, Wyo. - Brook Goold was happy with her find. The 4-year-old held up the plastic bag containing a headband with red-and-black polka dot ears for her mom to inspect.

“That works,” Penny Goold said, “and you already have your wings at home.”

With inflation at a 40-year high and grocery prices up 13% in 2022, food pantries and hunger relief organizations across Wyoming are serving nearly double the number of clients from a year ago.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - In the 10 years she has been working as a hairstylist, Kristina Gebhardt has never seen prices skyrocket the way they have in the last two years.

Bomber Bryan, associate broker with Keller Williams Jackson Hole Real Estate, is seeing a 50% decline in real estate transactions in Teton County compared to last year as the housing market slows amid increasing mortgage rates.

Inflation is an equal opportunity offender – and musicians aren’t immune to its consequences. Just ask Dave and Julie Huebner, co-leaders of The Two Tracks, a Sheridan-based folk-Americana band.

Aaron and Mary Durst have always considered themselves to be geeks. They’re into role-playing games like Magic: The Gathering and television shows like “Dr. Who” or “Star Trek.” Plus they love to “geek out” at game and comic book conventions in Denver or Seattle.

Becky Steele, a Cheyenne resident, loves to bake. She’s attending Escoffier Auguste School of Culinary Arts in Boulder, Colo., and has already launched a home-based business, Broadway Cakes and Creations.

GILLETTE, Wyo. ¬– In the face of record-high inflation and historic gas prices, Antonio Avila had a hard choice to make. The 16-year-old, two-time state wrestling champion from Gillette was given the option to attend national wrestling tournaments in North Carolina or Iowa in October. Both attract college scouts from across the country, and a scholarship to an NCAA Division 1 program is potentially on the line. In the past, Avila would have attended both for maximum exposure.

LARAMIE, Wyo.—Ashton Hacke, an international studies major, and Michaela McGee, a primary and special education major, are in a “medium-distance” relationship—one that’s complicated by soaring fuel and food prices.

For a small-town hospital, St. John’s Health in Jackson Hole receives a disproportionate number of patients with a diversity of conditions rarely seen in other Wyoming towns of the same size. This is part of why Ginny Dorsey loves her role as a Certified Nursing Assistant in the Emergency Department.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.--After a year in retirement, former Cheyenne East High School art teacher Dave Rowswell is returning to the classroom as a substitute teacher.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.—Inflation can be the unwelcome guest at many of life’s biggest moments. It’s the bewildering cost of living accompanying a young person heading to college and the gut-churning hit to retirement funds creeping up on people inching closer to exiting the workforce.

Demand for contracting services has been better than ever for business owner K.C. Murphy—up 75% to 100% in the past two years—but it’s come with a heavy price tag. In these inflationary times, the cost of supplies is eroding his profit margins while putting a dent in his clients’ wallets.

GILLETTE, Wyo.–Russell and Heidi Kennedy were enjoying a comfortable life and living within their means when a medical emergency threw them off financial course.

In a rural state like Wyoming, contractors and handymen typically log upwards of hundreds of miles to bid projects and earn new customers. For Ivan Trivitt, owner of Interior Paint and Drywall in Casper, it’s not uncommon for him to drive 40 miles one way for a home project.

Lilly Willa is quick to smile as she recounts the uncertainty of the past few months. The 33-year-old single mother of two recently arrived in Jackson Hole from Whatcom County, Washington, eager to start her new job as a secondary-level language teacher in the Teton County School District.

CHEYENNE, Wyo.—A curtain of lush green leaves and vines drapes the storefront windows at the Hawthorn Tree apothecary in downtown Cheyenne. Beyond the verdant curtain is a peaceful space filled with rows of glass jars containing tea leaves and aromatic spices.