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
Walmart is keeping $2.9 billion in tariff refunds for price cuts while Amazon mails money back to customers
Walmart has collected roughly $2.9 billion in tariff refunds — the largest sum any retailer has reported — and it is keeping the money to...
Amazon is refunding about $600 million in tariff charges to shoppers automatically, with no form to file
Amazon has told investors it received about $600 million in tariff refunds and will hand some of that money back to shoppers automatically — no...
Weatherization assistance can cut a low-income senior’s utility bills with free home upgrades
Heating and cooling a home is one of the largest fixed expenses a retiree on a limited income faces, and it is one of the...
Tariffs are adding about $540 a year to the average grocery bill, and coffee alone has jumped 21%
A round of new import tariffs is quietly reshaping the checkout total for older households on fixed incomes, and the math is starting to bite....
Electricity prices are near record highs around 18 cents a kilowatt-hour, straining fixed incomes
Residential electricity is on track to average about 18 cents a kilowatt-hour in 2026, according to federal forecasters, near the highest level on record and...
A home health aide runs a median $35 an hour, so full-time care can cost more than a nursing home
Aging at home is widely assumed to be the cheaper path, but the arithmetic of hourly care tells a different story. A home health aide...
Assisted living now averages about $6,200 a month, and Medicaid pays only for care, not room and board
Assisted living is often pitched as the affordable middle ground between staying home and entering a nursing home, but the price tag has climbed to...
Several states let homeowners 65 and older defer property taxes until sale
For a homeowner living on a fixed income, a rising property-tax bill can be the expense that forces a sale of the family home. Several...
The national gas price near $4.14 a gallon set a late-summer record
The national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline sat near $4.14 in the third week of August 2026, a level that price trackers...
A new 50% tariff on Canadian dairy, alcohol and vehicles took effect this week, adding to costs that reach shoppers
A new import tax took effect this week that adds an extra 50% duty on three categories of Canadian goods: dairy products, alcoholic beverages, and...
A federal program helps low-income households cover part of a summer cooling bill, yet most never apply
Every summer, a federally funded program stands ready to help low-income households pay part of a cooling bill or replace a broken air conditioner, and...
Anyone on SNAP or Medicaid can cut a phone bill $9.25 a month through Lifeline
A federal telephone and internet subsidy that has run for decades still knocks up to $9.25 a month off the bill for households already enrolled...
Five states — Mississippi, Kansas, Oklahoma, Alabama and West Virginia — carry the lowest overall cost of living
Where a retirement dollar stretches furthest is not a matter of opinion in the latest national data. In the first quarter of 2026, Oklahoma, Alabama,...
Most states waive property taxes entirely for veterans rated 100% disabled
For a veteran carrying a 100 percent service-connected disability rating, the single largest recurring housing cost can drop to zero. A clear majority of states...
Homeowners 65 and older can cut hundreds off property taxes with a state circuit-breaker rebate
Many older homeowners never realize their state will send back part of a property-tax bill that swallows too big a share of their income. The...
Six states now freeze seniors’ property taxes, and New Jersey’s program pays up to $6,500
A growing number of states are trying to keep longtime homeowners from being taxed out of the houses they already own, and the most generous...
Minimum wage will rise in more than 20 states in 2027, led by California at $17.40 while the federal floor stays $7.25
The gap between the highest and lowest minimum wage in America is about to widen again. On January 1, 2027, more than 20 states will...
A federal program helps low-income households cover part of a summer cooling bill
A summer electric bill can climb by $50 or more once a window unit or central air runs through a July heat wave, and for...
Utility rate hikes now reach 116 million electric customers across 49 states, adding $40 or more a month in some
An advocacy-run tracker of utility filings now counts more than 116 million electric customers facing higher or proposed-higher power bills, spread across 49 states and...
ACA marketplace premiums rose about 26% for 2026, the steepest increase in eight years
The amount insurers charge for coverage on the Affordable Care Act marketplaces is rising about 26% on average for 2026, the largest jump since 2018...