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
Electric bills in data-center hubs like Virginia have soared up to 267% in five years
Households and businesses near the country’s largest clusters of data centers are paying sharply higher electricity bills, with wholesale costs at some grid nodes jumping...
Coffee prices are climbing faster than almost anything else at the grocery store this year
American grocery shoppers are paying sharply more for coffee than they were a year ago, with price increases that dwarf most other items in the...
The average new car sold for $49,220 in May as tariffs keep sticker prices high
Car buyers paid an average of $49,220 for a new vehicle in May, a figure shaped directly by the 25 percent tariff on imported automobiles...
Utilities asked regulators for $9.4 billion in rate hikes in just the first quarter of 2026
American households and businesses face the prospect of sharply higher electric bills after utilities across the country filed requests with state regulators seeking a combined...
Gas still costs about $1.50 more a gallon than before the Iran war, even as oil sinks
American drivers are paying roughly $1.50 more per gallon for regular gasoline than they were in late February 2026, before the Iran conflict disrupted energy...
AI data centers are quietly pushing household electric bills higher heading into summer
Millions of households across the East Coast face higher electricity bills this summer, and a growing share of that cost pressure traces back to the...
The Iran war is still adding more than $360 million a day to America’s gas bill
American drivers are paying more than $360 million a day in extra gasoline costs tied to the Iran conflict, a figure derived from federal price...
Egg prices have dropped about 39% from a year ago
American grocery shoppers are paying dramatically less for eggs than they did a year ago, with the federal Consumer Price Index recording a 39.2% year-over-year...
The U.S. cattle herd has shrunk to a 75-year low, pushing beef prices up 12.9% over the past year
American families are paying sharply more for beef after the national cattle herd contracted to levels not recorded since the early 1950s. Total cattle and...
A Listeria outbreak traced to recalled Mexican-style soft cheese has killed one person and hospitalized seven across three states
One person is dead and seven others have been hospitalized after eating soft ricotta and requesón cheese produced by Clover Hill Dairy in Mechanicsville, Maryland....
Federal forecasters expect Americans to use more electricity this summer than in any of the past five
American households and businesses face their most electricity-hungry summer since at least 2021, according to federal energy forecasters. The U.S. Energy Information Administration completed its...
An Oregon utility is cutting home electricity bills 1.3% while raising data-center rates 29% — a rare case of the AI boom easing a household’s bill instead of inflating it
Residential customers of Portland General Electric stand to pay less on their monthly electricity bills at a moment when utilities across the country are asking...
Tyson and Cargill will pay $87.5 million over inflated beef prices — shoppers in 26 states who bought steak or roasts from 2014 to 2019 can claim by June 30
Families across 26 states who paid more than they should have for beef between 2014 and 2019 now have a narrow window to recover some...
Virginia’s data-center boom is raising power bills in West Virginia, where the same utility serves both states
Residential electricity customers in West Virginia and Maryland are absorbing billions of dollars in transmission costs driven by Virginia’s rapid data-center expansion, even though the...
Electricity prices have risen 42% since 2019, far outpacing overall inflation
American households and businesses paid a national average of 12.94 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity in 2024, capping a five-year stretch in which power prices...
Forever stamps are set to rise to 82 cents on July 12
Americans who still rely on physical mail to pay bills, send documents, or ship small packages will pay more starting this summer. The U.S. Postal...
Minimum wages rise July 1 in Oregon, Alaska, Washington, D.C., and more than 20 cities
Workers in Oregon, Alaska, Washington, D.C., and more than 20 cities will see higher minimum wages starting July 1, 2026, as inflation-indexed local laws trigger...
Gas fell nearly 20 cents in a week, and 18 states are back under $4 a gallon
American drivers caught a break at the pump during the final week of May, as the national average price for regular gasoline fell 17 cents...
Dealers are quietly absorbing almost half of the tariff hike on new cars
American car buyers shopping for a new import this summer are paying less of a tariff surcharge than the sticker math would suggest. Federal records...
More than 3.5 million Americans have lost SNAP food benefits since July, with enrollment down in every state
More than 3.5 million Americans stopped receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits after a federal law signed on July 4, 2025, expanded work requirements and...