Category: Cost of Living
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The first 100,000 tons of duty-free imported beef opened September 1 and closes at month’s end
A new 30-day window for cheaper imported beef opened this week, timed to a cattle shortage that has pushed ground beef prices to some of the highest levels on record. Starting September 1, the first of three monthly allotments of duty-reduced lean beef trimmings became available to importers, and it closes again at the end…
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Home prices rose just 1.5 percent in June, a 13th straight month of losing to inflation
The government’s inflation gauge and the country’s most closely watched home-price index moved in opposite directions again in June, and the gap between them has now persisted for more than a year. S&P Dow Jones Indices reported on August 25 that its national home price index rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier in June,…
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One in three households under $50,000 spends at least 5 percent of income on electricity
Electric bills have become a bigger line item for lower-income households than they were even a few years ago, and a new federal research update puts a specific number on how big. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, working with the consulting firm Brattle Group, released a July 2026 update to its long-running study of retail electricity…
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Peacock’s price increase reaches current subscribers September 17, adding $24 a year to Premium
Peacock’s higher prices took effect for new sign-ups back on August 18, but current subscribers have had a few extra weeks of old pricing built in. That grace period ends soon: anyone who subscribed before August 18 starts paying the new rate on their next billing date on or after September 17, and for a…
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Diesel reached $5.60 a gallon, nearly 50 percent higher than a year ago
Freight haulers paid $5.599 for a gallon of diesel last week, the fuel that moves nearly every trucked item on a grocery store shelf from the farm or port to the checkout line. That’s down slightly from the week before, but it’s nearly 50 percent above what the same tank cost a year ago —…
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Gasoline averaged $4.07 a gallon last week, 89 cents more than a year ago
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline came in at $4.071 last week, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Monday survey of retail stations across the country. That’s a few cents cheaper than the week before, but it sits 89 cents higher than drivers paid at the same point last year. For…
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The July inflation report put airline fares up 25.5 percent over the year
Airfare was one of the standout increases in the government’s most recent inflation report, and it lands hardest on retirees who fly to see grandchildren rather than business travelers on expense accounts. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for July 2026, released August 12, listed airline fares among the largest year-over-year increases in…
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Trump declared a national emergency over the power grid, and the order exempts local delivery lines
A new executive order signed this week puts foreign-made equipment inside America’s power grid under direct federal scrutiny, but it stops well short of reaching the wires and transformers that actually carry electricity into most homes. President Trump signed Executive Order 14420 on August 26, declaring a national emergency over the bulk-power system, the high-voltage…
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Rents are falling in 52 of the 100 biggest cities, and the national median is $1,390
The apartment market that punished renters with double-digit rent hikes a few years ago has quietly flipped in the other direction for more than half of the country’s largest cities. Apartment List’s latest national rent report puts the median U.S. apartment at $1,390 a month as of August, and in 52 of the 100 largest…
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Candy and chocolate are forecast up 7.1 percent this year, the grocery increase nobody is watching
Beef gets the headlines, but it is not the only grocery category running hot in USDA’s own price data this year. The Economic Research Service now forecasts sugar and sweets prices, the category that covers candy and chocolate, rising 7.1 percent in 2026. That puts it among the fastest-growing sections of the grocery store, well…