Category: Cost of Living
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Alaska got 23.15 percent of its food stamp payments wrong, the worst rate in the country
The U.S. Department of Agriculture closed the books on fiscal year 2025 food stamp accuracy on June 24, 2026, and one state stood far apart from the other 49. Alaska’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payment error rate came in at 23.15 percent — the highest of any state in the country, and more than double…
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The smallest food stamp benefit rises to $25 in the lower 48 while Hawaii’s falls to $40
Every October, the U.S. Department of Agriculture resets the floor under food stamp benefits, and the new numbers for the year ahead move in opposite directions depending on where a household lives. In the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, the smallest possible monthly benefit for a one- or two-person household is going…
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Heating help counts automatically toward food stamps only when someone in the house is old or disabled
A change tucked into last year’s federal tax and spending law quietly rewrote one of the more obscure levers that decides a household’s monthly food stamp amount: the heating and cooling standard utility allowance. Until now, a small energy-assistance payment was often enough on its own to unlock a bigger shelter deduction and a higher…
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An executive order gives the Agriculture Department 90 days to decide whether beef can carry a country-of-origin label
A White House order signed this month tells the Department of Agriculture to spend the next three months deciding whether grocery shoppers should be able to see where their beef was born, raised and slaughtered. The directive does not put a new label on a single package of ground chuck or ribeye today. It instructs…
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New federal rent ceilings for housing vouchers take effect October 1, and the deadline to challenge one is the same day
The rent ceiling that decides how much a Housing Choice Voucher covers resets nationwide on October 1, when the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s newest Fair Market Rents take hold. A separate clock buried in the same notice gives housing authorities exactly until that date to ask HUD to reconsider a number they believe…
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The income limits that decide who gets heating help become mandatory for every state on October 1
Households that lean on federal help to cover winter heating bills are about to be measured against one national yardstick instead of a patchwork of state-by-state estimates. The Administration for Children and Families’ Office of Community Services has told every state, the District of Columbia, tribal grantees and several territories that a set of income…
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A utility-rate tracker counts 275 companies that have raised or proposed increases across 49 states
A rate increase moving through a single state regulator’s docket rarely makes national news on its own. Tallied together, though, hundreds of those filings show how widespread higher electric and gas bills have become since early 2025. The Center for American Progress, working with the Natural Resources Defense Council, has spent more than a year…
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National Grid wants $23.66 more a month from Massachusetts heating customers starting December 1
Massachusetts regulators are still deciding whether National Grid can raise what it charges for natural gas delivery, and the outcome would land squarely in the middle of heating season. The Department of Public Utilities has not ruled on the case, but it has already put the higher rates on hold so its staff can pick…
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Vermont’s largest electric utility raises rates 5.5 percent for 275,000 customers on October 1
Green Mountain Power spent months defending a rate request that state regulators ultimately cut down before signing off on it. The fight over how much of the company’s storm-hardening budget belongs on customer bills is now settled, and the resulting increase reaches every residential and business account the company serves just as other Vermont energy…
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Michigan approved a gas increase adding $2.87 a month to a typical DTE bill
Michigan regulators granted DTE Gas less than half of the rate increase it asked for, and households on the other end of the meter will still pay more starting this heating season. The Michigan Public Service Commission’s order in Case No. U-21973, issued September 10, 2026, sets a specific dollar figure for what a typical…