From electricity to rent, monthly bills are tipping the inflation scale [View all]

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 myself really working more than 80 hours a week just to be able to support my family during this difficult time,” said the 41-year-old Oklahoma City resident. The $400 a month she paid for health insurance consumed about half of her paycheck from her job managing a suicide prevention hotline. At the grocery store, there are calculations on even relatively small purchases, such as whether to buy eggs or her 4-year-old’s favorite cheese sticks.

Tagbo, who is now working with children with autism, follows the news closely and is aware that, by some measures, the costs of everyday life aren’t setting off as many alarm bells as a few years ago. Last month, consumer prices climbed at a 2.9 percent annual rate, government data show, well below the 9 percent recorded in June 2022. But “when you’re living paycheck to paycheck, sometimes it doesn’t seem like anything has gotten any better, even though inflation may have decreased,” she said.

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.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/electricity-rent-monthly-bills-tipping-133007289.html