Category: Cost of Living
-
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…
-
The EIA forecasts heating oil at $5.66 a gallon this quarter, against $3.68 a year ago
Household budgets built around a home heating oil tank are about to run into a federal number nobody controls. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s newest monthly market report projects how much more a gallon of heating oil delivered this winter will cost compared with the same three months a year earlier, and the gap is…
-
Trump’s ban on certain Canadian alcohol and dairy starts September 29, and the product list gained all-terrain vehicles on September 15
Two changes to Canadian trade rules land on different dates this month, and both trace back to the same legal authority. Import bans on certain Canadian alcoholic beverages and dairy products take effect September 29, 2026, turning what has been a steep tariff into an outright prohibition on those goods entering the United States. A…
-
Seven in ten Denver rental listings came with a concession last month
In Denver last month, 71.9% of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom rental listings carried some kind of concession, the highest share among the 50 largest U.S. metro areas Realtor.com tracks. That works out to roughly seven in ten listings offering a discount that never shows up in the advertised rent. The number reflects a metro area…
-
Rents have fallen for 37 straight months and 43.5 percent of listings now carry a concession
The median asking rent across the 50 largest U.S. metro areas slipped to $1,699 in August, down 0.9% from a year earlier, according to Realtor.com’s latest monthly rental report. That decline marks the 37th consecutive month rents have fallen on an annual basis, a streak now well into its fourth year. At the same time,…
-
Eggs cost 23 percent less than they did a year ago
For the first time in three years, the egg aisle is moving in the direction shoppers stopped expecting: down. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that its price index for eggs was 23.0 percent lower in August 2026 than in August 2025, one of the largest twelve-month declines recorded for any major grocery item this…
-
Instant coffee costs 11 percent more than it did a year ago
Grocery shoppers are seeing two very different stories play out in the same coffee aisle. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released this month show the price of instant coffee climbed 11.0 percent over the past year, easily the fastest-moving item inside a coffee category that, taken as a whole, actually got a little cheaper last…
-
Ground beef costs 7.2 percent more than a year ago, and the August price did not budge
At the meat case, some sale tags moved this summer while the ground beef sticker did not. Government inflation data released this month track the item precisely: uncooked ground beef cost 7.2 percent more in August 2026 than a year earlier, and on a seasonally adjusted basis its price did not move at all during…
-
Household electricity is projected to average 18.6 cents a kilowatt-hour next year, up from 16.5 cents in 2024
The average U.S. household is on track to pay more for electricity through the rest of the decade, according to updated federal forecasting released this month. Residential power prices climbed from 16.5 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2024 to an estimated 17.3 cents in 2025, and federal energy analysts now expect the increases to continue in…
-
California diesel averaged $8.039 a gallon in the week ending September 14
Diesel fuel in California averaged $8.039 a gallon for the week ending September 14, 2026, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s weekly retail price survey. That figure sits well above both the national picture and the wider West Coast region the state belongs to, and the distance between them has been widening for more…