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8 Expenses That Have Spiked Over 10% in the Past Year
By Pete Grieve MONEY RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
The 22.2% year-over-year jump in car insurance prices is certainly the most notable.
Inflation was not only higher than analysts expected in March — it has also driven up the cost of expenses like car insurance and care for older adults more than 10% in the past year.
Overall, consumer prices increased 0.4% from February to March, bringing the annual inflation rate for the U.S. to 3.5%, according to the latest consumer price index (CPI) report.
Contributing to the rise is the shelter index, which has surged 5.7% in the past year and accounts for more than 60% of overall annual inflation. Gasoline prices have also been a recent driver of inflation: The average gallon of gas now costs $3.62, which is up more than 22 cents from a month ago due to rising oil prices, according to AAA.
The Federal Reserve’s long-run target for inflation is 2%. Wednesday’s hotter-than-anticipated March CPI reading could mean that officials will need to keep interest rates high for a longer amount of time in order to reach that goal.
“In one word, the report was discouraging for the Fed and the prospects of a June cut,” Bank of America economists wrote in a note. “Inflation is proving sticky.”
Of all the items tracked by the CPI, two relatively small indexes had the largest gains. The price of video discs and other media is up 30.1% since this time last year, leading all other items after a 14.7% spike from February to March. (Fortunately, you probably aren’t buying too many video discs in 2024.)
The second-fastest-growing category is frozen noncarbonated juices and drinks, which is up 27.5% since March 2023.
Some of the other indexes experiencing double-digit price growth are bigger CPI categories more relevant to everyday Americans. The 22.2% year-over-year jump in car insurance prices is certainly the most notable: Premiums are skyrocketing as insurance companies raise rates deal with an increase in costly claims after car prices soared during the pandemic.
Here are the eight expenses for which prices are up at least 10% since March 2023, based on the latest CPI data:
- Video discs and other media: 30.1% increase
- Frozen noncarbonated juices and drinks: 27.5%
- Motor vehicle insurance: 22.2%
- Repair of household items: 18%
- Care of invalids and elderly at home: 14.2%
- Motor vehicle repair: 11.6%
- Uncooked beef roasts: 11.2%
- Domestic services: 10.9%
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Pete Grieve is a New York-based reporter who covers personal finance news. At Money, Pete covers trending stories that affect Americans’ wallets on topics including car buying, insurance, housing, credit cards, retirement and taxes. He studied political science and photography at the University of Chicago, where he was editor-in-chief of The Chicago Maroon. Pete began his career as a professional journalist in 2019. Prior to joining Money, he was a health reporter for Spectrum News in Ohio, where he wrote digital stories and appeared on TV to provide coverage to a statewide audience. He has also written for the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Sun-Times and CNN Politics. Pete received extensive journalism training through Report for America, a nonprofit organization that places reporters in newsrooms to cover underreported issues and communities, and he attended the annual Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in 2021. Pete has discussed his reporting in interviews with outlets including the Columbia Journalism Review and WBEZ (Chicago's NPR station). He’s been a panelist at the Chicago Headline Club’s FOIA Fest and he received the Institute on Political Journalism’s $2,500 Award for Excellence in Collegiate Reporting in 2017. An essay he wrote for Grey City magazine was published in a 2020 book, Remembering J. Z. Smith: A Career and its Consequence.