It's not just you — food prices rose 2.4% last year
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What are the current trends in food price inflation?
When it comes to inflation, there are things we can give up when prices get too high. But food is non-negotiable. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace.
From Colorado Public Radio in Denver, I'm Amy Scott, in for Kai Risdahl. It's Tuesday, January 13th. Good to have you with us. The overall inflation news today from the Consumer Price Index wasn't too bad. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said headline prices increased 0.3% in December from the month before. 2.7 percent on an annual basis, same rate as in November. One stubborn outlier, though, was food. The cost of food consumed at home, a.k.a. groceries, was up 7 tenths percent for the month. And if you go back five years, it's up about 25 percent. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes takes a look at how people are getting by. At Patterson Food Market, a small corner store in Baltimore, Courtney Johnson is shopping for a snack.
Let me get some hot sausages, bro. Two of them. What kind? Any kind, boss. Any kind. I mean, you know what kind.
These are jerky, dried sausages. Johnson also gets a 16-ounce soda. Another customer, Eric Smith, buys a soda, too. It's $2. And outside the store, Smith says that's too much.
I mean, a year ago, the same soda that I just paid for was $1.50 in the same store.
How does it make you feel? Robbed. Smith says he doesn't blame the store owner, but it makes him think there's something wrong with the overall system. Cornell agricultural economist Chris Barrett says rising food prices make shoppers feel powerless. Most of us bristle a little bit when we feel our agency is really limited and there's nothing we can do about it. Food prices are rising for lots of reasons, including climate change, a weaker dollar, and tariffs. And Barrett points out the increases hit low-income people hardest because food takes up a bigger chunk of their household budgets.
Food prices really don't affect the behaviors of the well-off. Food prices affect the behavior of people who are struggling to make ends meet.
And we see a lot of trade-offs for cheap calories.
Barrett says we're all paying attention to where we get our nutrients and how much they cost. In Baltimore, Eric Smith says he's trying to eat smaller portions. Also, he says his mindset toward eating has changed. He says he used to eat for fun. Now, he feels like he eats to survive. In Baltimore, I'm Stephanie Hughes for Marketplace. Well, one way people are managing the higher cost of living is debt. Overall, credit card debt is up more than 5% from a year ago, according to the latest data from the New York Federal Reserve. And a new survey from Bankrate suggests Americans are carrying credit card debt longer than they used to. More than 60% of people with credit card debt say they've carried a balance for more than a year.
That's up from 53% in 2024. Marketplace's Daniel Ackerman looked into it. Overall, wages are growing faster than inflation, but that's not the case for everyone, says Steve Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard.
You know, some people don't get any wage increases at all in the course of a given year.
Blitz says stagnant wages plus persistent inflation are a bad combination.
When you're in that kind of a world... it becomes very difficult to grow out of a debt problem.
So those credit card balances just keep rolling over. And Chip Lupo, an analyst at WalletHub, says, There are consequences that do come with that. It's going to make it harder for you to apply for additional credit. Think a mortgage or car loan. And Lupo says long-term debt impacts more than just finances. One in five consumers say that they're very stressed about their credit card debt, which that reflects the mental strain of carrying balances month after month. One factor that could be drawing out that debt is timing. Households may have delayed some credit card payments during the holiday season, says Ben Guttenkenny, an assistant professor of finance at Rice University. People spend a lot in the run-up to Christmas, buying gifts for their family and friends, and also going on holidays and trips.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are the current trends in food price inflation?
0:02–4:23
2
How are rising food prices affecting low-income Americans?
4:23–8:48
3
What factors contribute to the increase in food prices?
8:48–12:12
4
How is credit card debt impacting American households?
12:12–22:54
5
What challenges are Kansas farmers facing in the current economy?
22:54–27:22