Cost of Living
Grocery prices, gas prices, utility costs, inflation impacts on everyday expenses, consumer sentiment, and the real-world financial pressures facing households.
Latest in Cost of Living
ACA enhanced subsidies expired January 1 — premium payments for 22 million enrollees just doubled, adding $1,016 a year to the average household’s health bill
On the first Monday of January, millions of Americans opened their health insurance bills and found a number they didn’t recognize. Across the 22 million...
Many states will knock hundreds off your property-tax or rent bill through a “circuit breaker” rebate — but you have to file, and most never do
A 70-year-old renter in Springfield, Missouri, paying $900 a month could get back up to $1,100 from the state this year. A retired homeowner in...
Most homeowners never challenge their property-tax assessment — yet a large share of appeals win, and the average successful one trims hundreds off the annual bill
The notice arrives in the mail, usually in spring: your county’s official opinion of what your home is worth, and by extension, what you owe...
One in six American households is now behind on its utility bills — and the nation’s unpaid energy debt is on track to hit a record $23 billion this year
When the thermostat hits 95 degrees in a poorly insulated apartment, the arithmetic is brutal: run the window unit and fall further behind on the...
Even IKEA is cutting 850 jobs as shoppers pull back on big-ticket buys — a sign the slowdown is now hitting store aisles, not just tech offices
Inter IKEA, the company that owns and licenses the IKEA brand worldwide, announced in May 2026 that it will cut 850 positions across its global...
The burger on your next restaurant receipt is about to cost more — McDonald’s and Chipotle both warn beef prices will climb again this year
A McDonald’s Big Mac now runs between roughly $5.50 and $6.50 in most U.S. markets, according to franchise menu boards (McDonald’s does not publish a...
Your morning coffee costs 18% more than a year ago and ground beef just hit a record $6.90 a pound — even as overall grocery inflation cools to about 3%
The receipt tells the story before the government data does. A pound of ground beef at the average American supermarket now runs about $6.90, the...
Soaring property taxes and insurance are pricing retirees out of the Sun Belt — the very Florida and Texas hubs they moved to a decade ago for cheaper living
In 2014, a three-bedroom ranch house near Fort Myers, Florida, could come with an annual homeowners insurance bill around $1,800 and a property-tax tab under...
AI data centers are driving the biggest jump in U.S. electricity demand in decades — and several states are already raising household power bills to pay for it
When Maryland’s Office of People’s Counsel published its breakdown of rising electricity rates earlier this year, the culprit it identified was not extreme weather, not...
Egg prices have crashed back to about $2 a dozen — a rare grocery win as bird flu eases, even while beef and coffee keep setting records
A dozen large eggs cost about $2.12 in April 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics average price series, with some regional markets still...
Chocolate now costs more than double what it did in 2024 and orange juice is up 28% — tariffs and bad weather are quietly wrecking the breakfast aisle
A standard chocolate bar that cost $1.79 two years ago now runs well over $4 at many supermarkets. A half-gallon of not-from-concentrate orange juice that...
Southwest just raised its first checked-bag fee to $45 — a 28% jump it blames on the Iran war, a year after killing the free bags that made it Southwest
A family of four flying Southwest Airlines this summer and checking one bag each will pay $360 in round-trip baggage fees. Thirteen months ago, that...
Beef hit a record $12.74 a pound as the U.S. cattle herd shrank to its smallest since the 1960s — and the USDA expects another 10% jump by fall
Americans are now paying $12.74 per pound for uncooked beef at the grocery store, the highest average price the Bureau of Labor Statistics has recorded...
Airfares are actually cheaper this Memorial Day than last year — the rare corner of travel that got more affordable while gas, hotels, and rental cars all climbed
A round-trip flight from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale over Memorial Day weekend is running roughly $40 to $60 less than the same trip cost a...
You now need to earn $127,000 a year to afford the median U.S. home — up from $79,000 before the pandemic, pricing out half of all households
Six years ago, a household earning $79,000 could qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home in the United States. That was the math in...
A record 45 million Americans will travel this Memorial Day weekend — but 40% of households earning under $66,000 can’t afford a single trip
Somewhere around 45 million Americans are expected to pack cars, fill airport terminals, and crowd train platforms this Memorial Day weekend, according to AAA’s holiday...
AAA expects a record 45 million Americans to travel this Memorial Day weekend — at $4.53 gas and $800 average flights, the holiday is now the priciest since 2022
A family of four driving from Dallas to South Padre Island this Memorial Day weekend will spend roughly $135 on gas alone, about $25 more...
Memorial Day gas hit $4.53 today — the average road tripper will spend $54 more than last year to drive 1,000 miles
Filling up for a Memorial Day road trip has not stung this badly since 2022. The national average price of regular gasoline reached $4.50 per...
Jet fuel hit $8.57 a gallon in May — up $2.09 from a year ago, and that’s why summer flights cost 22% more this year
A family of four booking a round trip from Dallas to Orlando this July will pay roughly $400 more than the same itinerary cost last...
Higher-income shoppers are now switching to Walmart for groceries — and the company’s Thursday earnings will show just how much $4.50 gas is reshaping the food aisle
A household pulling in $150,000 a year does not typically agonize over where to buy eggs. But with regular unleaded gasoline averaging $4.50 a gallon...