From electricity to rent, monthly bills are tipping the inflation scale

[Guno צְבִי]

That’s largely because key monthly costs for most Americans - shelter, food, health care, electricity - are outpacing inflation. Rents are up 3.8 percent - the largest increase since 2011 - the Census Bureau reported last week, and roughly half of all renters spend more than the recommended 30 percent of their incomes to cover the cost. Utility prices have spiked, according to the consumer price index, with natural gas and electricity bills rising 13.8 and 6.2 percent, respectively, since last year. And though President Donald Trump promised to lower food costs during the presidential campaign, grocery prices just posted their biggest increase since 2022, due in large part to his tariffs.

From electricity to rent, monthly bills are tipping the inflation scale

Tiffany Tagbo has been working two jobs - one full-time, one part-time - to make ends meet for most of the past decade, ever since the first of her two daughters was born. But a few months ago, her supplemental work expanded to 40 hours a week, and she began training for a third role. “I found...

news.yahoo.com

 

[Damocles]

That’s largely because key monthly costs for most Americans - shelter, food, health care, electricity - are outpacing inflation. Rents are up 3.8 percent - the largest increase since 2011 - the Census Bureau reported last week, and roughly half of all renters spend more than the recommended 30 percent of their incomes to cover the cost. Utility prices have spiked, according to the consumer price index, with natural gas and electricity bills rising 13.8 and 6.2 percent, respectively, since last year. And though President Donald Trump promised to lower food costs during the presidential campaign, grocery prices just posted their biggest increase since 2022, due in large part to his tariffs.

From electricity to rent, monthly bills are tipping the inflation scale

Tiffany Tagbo has been working two jobs - one full-time, one part-time - to make ends meet for most of the past decade, ever since the first of her two daughters was born. But a few months ago, her supplemental work expanded to 40 hours a week, and she began training for a third role. “I found...

news.yahoo.com

Rent goes up when they raise the interest rates and refuse lowering it. Folks have less options, rent goes up. Especially so if the rates are high enough to make new mortgages out of the range of the median income.