Category: Cost of Living
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Colorado approved an 8.6 percent natural gas increase that takes effect October 6, three weeks before the cold
Colorado’s Public Utilities Commission approved a settlement on September 4 that raises Xcel Energy’s natural gas rates starting October 6, even after cutting the utility’s original request by more than a third. Residential customers will see their monthly bill climb 8.6 percent, or $5.16, while small businesses take on a 9.2 percent increase of $22.76.…
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Home insurance rose 34 percent in Minnesota and 33 percent in Colorado last year
Homeowners in Minnesota and Colorado opened last year’s renewal notices to some of the steepest home insurance increases in the country, as insurers priced in years of hail, wind and wildfire losses. Minnesota’s average annual premium rose from $2,632 to $3,530 over 2025, and Colorado’s climbed from $3,032 to $3,996, according to an industry report…
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Heating bill help opens October 1 with no money appropriated behind it
Heating season does not wait for Washington to finish its budget, and this year the two calendars are drifting apart. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program’s operating year begins on October 1, the date written into the statute that runs it, and every state has already filed the paperwork needed to open its share…
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The 30-year mortgage jumped 19 basis points in a week to 6.95 percent
Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey shows the average 30-year fixed rate climbed to 6.95 percent this week, a jump of 19 basis points from the week before. For anyone shopping for a house, refinancing an existing loan, or watching an adjustable-rate mortgage reset, that single week of movement changes the math on what a…
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Grocery prices did not move at all in August, while restaurant meals rose 3.4 percent over the year
The government’s latest reading on consumer prices tells a split kitchen-table story for August 2026: the grocery aisle held still while the cost of eating out kept climbing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that its food-at-home index did not move at all last month, even as the price of restaurant and takeout meals rose…
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The federal rent ceiling falls in 466 housing markets on October 1 and rises in the rest
HUD’s annual Fair Market Rent notice, published September 1, sets the rent ceiling that federal housing programs use in thousands of markets nationwide, and the new figures take effect October 1, 2026. In 466 of those markets, the ceiling is going down rather than up, with the steepest declines concentrated in a handful of large…
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The most a 2027 exchange plan can charge one person out of pocket rises to $12,000
Households shopping for an Affordable Care Act marketplace plan for 2027 will face a higher ceiling on what a single illness or injury can cost them out of pocket. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has finalized $12,000 as the most a self-only exchange plan can require an enrollee to pay in deductibles, copays…
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Washington approved a 22 percent health premium increase for 2027 and Oregon 21.6 percent
Health regulators in Washington and Oregon closed out their 2027 rate reviews within weeks of each other, and both landed on increases well above the pace that ordinary household budgets have adjusted to. The decisions apply to people who buy health coverage on their own rather than through an employer, a group that includes early…
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Home heating oil costs 52 percent more than a year ago, and the heating season has not started
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest Consumer Price Index report shows home heating oil prices up 52 percent over the 12 months ending in August, the sharpest increase of any energy category the agency tracks. That number is already on the books even though the heating season for most oil-burning furnaces typically does not start…
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The White House named 30 states for the promised exchange refunds and left out the other 20
President Trump’s White House published a list of 30 states on September 10 whose Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollees are promised a $500 refund check this fall, tied to exchange fees the administration says were collected in excess for years. Twenty states don’t appear on that list at all, and the fact sheet offers no…