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
Beef prices surged 12.1% this year while egg prices crashed 44.7% — the USDA says grocery inflation is 1.7% overall, but individual items are swinging wildly in both directions
A pound of ground beef now runs about $5.80 at the national average, up roughly 12% from a year ago. A dozen eggs, meanwhile, costs...
Spirit Airlines shut down Friday — fares already jumped 23% on every route they used to fly, and 60,000 daily passengers are scrambling for seats
Spirit Airlines canceled every flight on its schedule Friday morning and told passengers not to come to the airport. The ultra-low-cost carrier that built its...
Iran fired missiles at the UAE this morning — gas jumped to $4.46, oil surged 6%, and Trump’s “Project Freedom” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is already under attack
Before dawn on May 28, 2026, missiles and drones launched from Iranian territory slammed into targets inside the United Arab Emirates, shattering a fragile ceasefire...
Fares jumped 23% on every route Spirit used to fly — budget air travel in America may have died with the airline
The cheapest seat on the Fort Lauderdale-to-San Juan route used to cost around $49 each way. Spirit Airlines sold thousands of them every week, packing...
Spirit’s collapse erased 809,000 booked seats overnight — four airlines capped emergency fares at $200, but only until May 10
Spirit Airlines told every one of its remaining passengers the same thing on Monday morning: do not come to the airport. The carrier canceled its...
Energy costs just tied housing as Americans’ second-biggest financial worry — at the highest level since 2008
When Lisa Moreno opens her electric bill each month in her three-bedroom house outside Houston, she braces. The number has climbed every billing cycle since...
Gas hit $4.43 a gallon today — up 47% since the Iran war started — and the average household is now spending $380/month on fuel, up from $250 pre-war
Maria Delgado used to fill her Honda CR-V for about $38 at the Shell station on East Broad Street in Columbus, Ohio. On June 2,...
The personal savings rate just hit 3.6% — the lowest since 2008 — because Americans are spending more on gas, not more on stuff
In April 2024, Americans saved a smaller share of their paychecks than at almost any point since the Great Recession. The personal savings rate fell...
Gas just hit $4.39 a gallon — up 47% since the Iran war started — and Exxon’s CEO says “there’s more to come” on price spikes
A gallon of regular unleaded now costs $4.39 at the national average, according to AAA’s daily fuel gauge. That is 47% higher than the $2.81...
The personal savings rate just hit 3.6% — the lowest since 2008 — because Americans are spending more on gas, not more on stuff
For every $100 of after-tax income Americans earned in December 2025, they set aside just $3.60. That personal saving rate, reported by the Bureau of Economic...
The 2026 gas price survival guide: 5 line items in your budget that go up when fuel does
Filling up the family car got noticeably more expensive this spring. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ March 2026 Consumer Price Index report, released in April,...
Only 25% of consumers say their cost-cutting plans are still working, PYMNTS report finds
Three out of four Americans who tried to shrink their spending this year say the effort has stalled. Only 25% of consumers report that their...
Gas prices hit $4.30 a gallon — the highest in four years — as Trump warns Iran blockade could last months
The last time Americans paid this much to fill a tank, Russian missiles were falling on Kyiv. On May 5, 2026, the national average price...
2/3 of U.S. schools say free lunches are unaffordable as rules shift
When the lunch line opens at 10:45 a.m. in a Title I elementary school, the trays rolling out of the kitchen look healthier than they...
Housing crisis is driven by affordability, not a lack of homes
A family earning the national median income in early 2026 needs to stretch further to buy a median-priced home than at any point in at...
Iran’s living costs surge as Trump blockade tightens pressure
In Tehran’s southern neighborhoods, where working families do most of their shopping at open-air markets, the arithmetic of daily life has shifted sharply since late...
Lammes Candies to close all stores, ending 141-year retail run
By late April 2026, the shelves at Lammes Candies on Airport Boulevard in Austin were nearly bare. Customers lined up to buy whatever remained: boxes...
California Academy of Sciences cuts 53 jobs as deficit widens
The California Academy of Sciences, the sprawling natural history museum and research institution in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, has eliminated 53 positions in a...
Duke Energy customers press regulators over proposed 15% rate hike
When the doors opened at the Burke County courthouse in Morganton, North Carolina, on April 28, 2026, more than a dozen residents were already waiting...
JetBlue cuts flights and lifts fares as jet fuel costs surge
Travelers booking JetBlue flights this spring are finding fewer choices and fatter price tags, and the reason traces back to the global fuel market. Jet...