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
Mortgage-insurance costs are nearly 80% higher than in 2020
The insurance cost built into the typical U.S. mortgage payment is nearly 80% higher than it was at the start of 2020, according to the...
Property insurance now consumes a record $209 of the average monthly mortgage payment
Property insurance now takes a record $209 out of the average monthly single-family mortgage payment, according to the September 2026 ICE Mortgage Monitor released Sept....
Illinois cut Nicor Gas’s requested rate increase by about $140 million
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office and consumer groups have reached a settlement that cuts about $140 million, or 63%, from the rate increase Nicor...
New Jersey Optimum customers are set for refunds and six months of free broadband
New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities has approved a settlement requiring Optimum Communications to pay $37 refunds to cable customers who were charged for service...
California households are receiving $886 million in utility-bill relief
California is putting $886 million back on residential electric bills this year through the California Climate Credit, Governor Gavin Newsom announced on September 22. Customers...
California puts an average $75 credit on millions of summer utility bills
Millions of California households are getting an automatic credit on their electricity bills this August and September, when air conditioning pushes usage to its yearly...
Subsidized marketplace enrollees went from paying $888 a year to $1,904 after the enhanced tax credits lapsed
The extra financial help that had kept Affordable Care Act marketplace premiums artificially flat for four straight years disappeared at the end of 2025, and...
The enhanced marketplace subsidies expired at the end of 2025, and 2027 rates assume a sicker pool
Health insurers filing 2027 Affordable Care Act Marketplace rates are proposing a median premium increase of 15 percent, according to an analysis of 276 insurers...
No heating assistance money can reach a household this winter until three separate approvals clear
The Office of Community Services will not release a single Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program dollar for the fiscal year that opens October 1,...
The average new vehicle topped $50,000 for the first time this year
The average price paid for a new vehicle in the United States climbed back above $50,000 in August, the first month in 2026 the industry-wide...
Winter heating costs will climb again, with the government’s fuel outlook due in October
The federal government’s single most-cited estimate of what American households will pay to stay warm this winter hasn’t been published yet, but the raw ingredients...
Propane and heating-oil users face higher bills as another cold season nears
Households that heat with propane or heating oil are bracing for another expensive winter, and early market signals point toward higher bills rather than relief....
Egg prices ticked back up to about $2.28 a dozen in August, bucking the grocery slowdown
Grade A large eggs averaged close to $2.28 a dozen in August, up roughly 4 percent from July, even as the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
Ground coffee sits near a record $9.30 a pound as grocery costs keep climbing
Retail ground coffee is selling for close to $9.30 a pound, near the highest level on record, even as government forecasters say the wider grocery...
Beef prices are climbing to fresh highs as cattle supplies stay tight
Retail beef prices have pushed to fresh highs this year as a shrinking U.S. cattle herd leaves packers with less supply to work with, and...
Inflation reaccelerated to 3.4% in August, led by a 27% yearly jump in gas prices
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that its broadest inflation gauge, the Consumer Price Index, rose 0.4 percent in August after increasing just 0.1 percent...
The national gas price jumped 13 cents in a week to $4.44 a gallon, up 27% over the year
AAA’s daily fuel survey put the U.S. average price of regular gasoline at $4.4687 a gallon on September 18, up from $4.2950 a week earlier,...
The food-stamp shelter deduction for people with no housing costs is set at about $206 a month
A little-known deduction built into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program’s benefit formula is rising to $205.66 a month starting October 1, part of the same...
Food-stamp recipients must tell the state whenever monthly earnings rise more than $150
Households on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that are required to report income changes between renewals will face a higher bar for doing so starting...
Food stamps still guarantee a $25 monthly minimum for the smallest households after the October update
The smallest households on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will keep their guaranteed monthly floor, and see it rise by a dollar, when the U.S....