Category: Cost of Living
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Household electricity averaged 18.31 cents a kilowatt-hour in July, up 4.9%
The average price a household paid for electricity climbed to 18.31 cents per kilowatt-hour in July 2026, a 4.9 percent increase from the same month a year earlier, according to newly released federal data. The Energy Information Administration published the figures on September 24 as part of its regular Electric Power Monthly update, giving a…
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Weight-loss drugs add a full point to employer health cost growth in 2027
Rising use of GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs is adding a full percentage point to the growth of employer health benefit costs for 2027, according to Mercer’s annual survey of employer-sponsored health plans. Employers overall expect total health benefit costs to rise 8.2 percent next year, and Mercer’s survey attributes one point of that increase…
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Costco cut Kirkland walnuts from $13.79 to $9.99 and says part of its tariff refunds will go into lower member prices
Costco trimmed the price of a two-pound bag of Kirkland Signature walnuts from $13.79 to $9.99 as part of the fourth-quarter results it reported on September 24, 2026. Chief Financial Officer Gary Millerchip named the walnut cut on the earnings call alongside three other reductions, and Chief Executive Officer Ron Vachris told analysts the company…
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Trump says he has called for a ban on diesel exports as diesel hits $6.52, and the oil industry says it would only compound the problem
President Trump says he has called for a ban on diesel exports, and the national average price of diesel reached $6.52 a gallon on September 23. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the administration is examining whether a full ban or a partial ban would work. The American Petroleum Institute, the oil industry’s largest trade group,…
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The average new compact SUV sold for $37,722 in August
A parts shortage at one automaker and a discontinued model at another quietly reshaped which small SUV sold the most in August. Compact SUVs, long one of the new-vehicle market’s most competitive segments, averaged $37,722 during the month — the slowest price growth of any of the industry’s top five segments, and a sign of…
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New car prices in the government’s index are up just 0.6 percent in a year
New vehicles are one of the quietest categories in an otherwise noisy inflation report. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index shows new-vehicle prices up just 0.6 percent over the twelve months ending in August 2026, a fraction of the 3.4 percent increase in prices overall. That figure sits in the same report…
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Utility gas service costs 4.4 percent more than a year ago
Piped natural gas delivered to homes cost 4.4 percent more in August 2026 than it did a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. The same report shows that price actually falling during the month the data was collected. Both numbers are accurate at once, and the gap between…
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Tariffs are now adding 0.2 to 0.4 point to core inflation, the Minneapolis Fed says
By July, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis had watched a relationship that was flat as recently as December turn decisively positive. Tariffs, economists Neil Mehrotra and Michael E. Waugh concluded, are now adding 0.2 to 0.4 percentage point to core inflation, an effect that was barely visible in the same regression eight months earlier.…
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A new compact car averaged $27,997 in August, about $22,000 below the typical new vehicle
Twenty-two thousand dollars separated the cheapest major segment of the new-vehicle market from the average buyer’s bill in August. A new compact car sold for $27,997 on average during the month, while the typical new vehicle sold for $50,089 — a gap of roughly $22,000 between the least expensive mainstream segment and the market as…
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The average new electric vehicle sold for $54,813 in August
For most of the past two years, buying electric meant paying a clear premium over a comparable gas-powered vehicle. That gap has been closing, and August’s transaction-price data shows how far. The average new EV sold for $54,813 during the month, down both from July and from a year earlier, even as the broader new-vehicle…