The Everyday Items That Have Surged the Most in Price

Why do eggs, electricity, and car insurance feel so much more expensive than they used to—while gasoline sometimes doesn’t? The answer lives in the data, and it tells a story about supply shocks, rising service costs, and how companies and consumers adapt when inflation lingers.

A Quick Map Of What’s Driving Your Bills

Inflation has cooled from its 2022 peak, but many day-to-day costs are still climbing—especially in services and a handful of grocery and household categories. In August 2025, headline CPI rose 2.9% year over year, with food at home up 2.7%, electricity up 6.2%, natural gas up 13.8%, and gasoline down 6.6%. Shelter (rent and owners’ equivalent rent) remained sticky month-to-month, and airline fares jumped on the month. The headline calm hides sharp pressure points in specific line items.

Grocery prices, in particular, are a tale of two timelines: after a historic pandemic-era run-up, they’ve grown more slowly in 2024–25. But that doesn’t erase the earlier surge: from March 2020 to January 2024, grocery prices rose about 25%. That cumulative jump is why your cart still feels expensive even as monthly inflation cools.

Below, we break down where prices bit hardest—and why.

Transportation: Auto Insurance, Parts, And Repairs Are The New Inflation Hotspots

If you felt blindsided by your insurance renewal, you’re not alone. Motor vehicle insurance has been one of the fastest-rising items in the CPI basket since 2023–24, with a 17.8% increase in 2024 alone and elevated gains through 2025, even as new and used vehicle prices cooled. Several forces explain it: pricier parts, costlier labor at repair shops, more severe accidents, climate-related claims, and higher reinsurance costs. Put together, they pushed up claim severities and premiums nationwide.

Insurers and analysts tie the spike to more complicated vehicles and repairs, high parts prices, and a post-pandemic shift toward riskier driving that never fully reverted. Weather losses and litigation also matter. It isn’t just a headline story—household budgets reflect it: average outlays on vehicle insurance climbed to $1,775 per household in 2023, up from $1,545 pre-pandemic.

Beyond premiums, maintenance and parts costs have stayed firm, reflecting higher input costs and complexity. Airline fares remain volatile (they surged 5.9% month-over-month in August 2025), underscoring how transportation swings can hit budgets unevenly across categories.

Shelter: Rent Inflation Remains The Big, Slow-Moving Burden

Shelter is the largest weight in CPI and the biggest line on most budgets. In August 2025, the shelter index rose 0.4% month-to-month, with rent and owners’ equivalent rent showing similar gains. Even as private rent data cooled earlier in 2024–25, BLS shelter moves with a lag—one reason many households still feel housing costs rising.

From a budget perspective, housing consumed 32.9% of total household spending in 2023, dwarfing other categories. And because shelter inflation filters through slowly, it can keep pressure on budgets even as headline inflation eases—especially for renters renewing leases this year.

Groceries: After A Big Run-Up, Some Relief—But Pain Points Persist

The overall food-at-home index increased 2.7% year over year in August 2025. That’s a far cry from 2022’s pace—but remember the base effect: Americans are still paying about 25% more than in early 2020. Within the aisle, prices diverge by product and global commodity exposure.

Eggs: A Case Study In Volatility

Eggs are the poster child for price swings. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks periodically slash the laying-hen flock and spike prices; fresh waves in late 2024 and early 2025 sent egg prices to fresh highs before easing as supply recovered. Such disease shocks—paired with feed costs—explain why eggs can lurch from “too high” to “a bargain” within a year.

Chocolate And Sugar: Global Shortages Feed U.S. Sticker Shock

Cocoa prices hit records in 2024–25 after poor West African harvests, forcing chocolate manufacturers to pass through higher costs. Sugar markets were tight, too, and new U.S. import restrictions and tariffs on specialty organic sugar in 2025 threatened further price pressure for organic products. Expect confectionery and some pantry items to feel those inputs for a while.

Beverages, Cereals, And Household Staples

Within food, nonalcoholic beverages rose 4.6% year over year in August; cereals and bakery slowed to 1.1%, reflecting easing grains and better supply. Still, producers are navigating higher packaging, labor, and logistics costs than in 2019, and many have held list prices—substituting smaller pack sizes (“shrinkflation”) or broader size tiers to hit price points without outright cuts.

Household Goods: Tariffs, Packaging, And “Shrinkflation” Keep Tags Sticky

Household paper and cleaning aisles became a micro-lesson in inflation mechanics: even when raw pulp and shipping eased, companies faced higher packaging, labor, and distribution costs, while 2025 tariffs added new uncertainty. Retailers signaled they might raise thresholds for free shipping and use careful language around tariff-related increases—a sign that policy can ripple straight into everyday prices and retail strategies.

Consumers, meanwhile, increasingly report getting less for the same price. Government oversight and media coverage documented downsizing across snacks, toiletries, and more. That doesn’t always show up as a “price increase” in CPI (which measures price per unit, not perceived value), but it erodes purchasing power all the same.

Energy And Utilities: Electricity And Natural Gas Up; Gasoline Still A Rollercoaster

Energy is a bundle of opposites. Gasoline is famously volatile and down 6.6% year over year in August 2025 based on crude prices, refining margins, and seasonal dynamics. Yet electricity and natural gas—what powers your home—moved the other way: +6.2% and +13.8% year over year, respectively, lifting monthly utility bills. Energy categories often diverge because they’re driven by different markets and regulations.

Shipping costs—once an inflation villain—spiked again in early 2024 with Red Sea disruptions before easing, underscoring how global logistics shocks can filter into U.S. shelf prices with a lag.

Healthcare Essentials: A Mixed Picture, But Services Press Upward Over Time

In August 2025, the medical care index dipped 0.2% month-to-month, with small declines in dental services and prescription drugs. But the longer arc shows steady pressure in medical services—hospital and physician services costs tend to rise with wages, technology, and utilization, and the CPI’s health insurance component follows a specific methodology that can swing from steep declines to rebounds. Over time, medical prices have generally outpaced overall CPI.

Why These Prices Moved: Four Big Economic Forces

1) Supply Shocks And Global Logistics

Pandemic disruptions, semiconductor shortages, and later Red Sea shipping detours whipsawed supply chains. The auto market illustrates the cascade: chip shortages lifted new-car prices and waiting lists, boosting used-car values, repair costs, and ultimately insurance premiums. As supply normalized, vehicle prices cooled—but repair and insurance didn’t snap back as quickly because parts and labor stayed expensive.

2) Labor Costs

Wages are the backbone of service inflation. The Employment Cost Index shows total compensation rising ~3.6% year over year in mid-2025—below 2022 peaks but still firm. For labor-intensive sectors (repairs, healthcare, hospitality), higher pay pushes up service prices unless productivity offsets it.

3) Commodity Prices

Cocoa and sugar spikes lifted candy; feed costs and avian influenza hit egg supply; oil moves gasoline. When inputs soar, packaged food makers can adjust sizes, recipes, or list prices. Some of those changes persist even after commodities cool, creating a “ratchet effect” in everyday prices.

4) Corporate Pricing And Policy (Tariffs)

After 2021–22, many firms sustained higher markups, especially where demand stayed resilient; researchers documented profits’ role in early inflation phases, though the effect varied by sector and faded as competition returned. In 2025, tariffs re-entered the picture: retailers warned of tariff-driven price hikes and quietly adjusted shipping promotions and assortments to protect margins. The producer price index also showed tariff-linked pressures ebbing and flowing across goods.

How It Hits Households: The Budget Reality

For the typical household, the spending pie hasn’t changed: housing is still the biggest slice (about 33%), then transportation (~17%), and food (~13%). But which line items inside those slices move matters a lot: a jump in electricity or car insurance can add hundreds of dollars a year with little room to substitute—unlike, say, swapping brands on cereal. This is why many households feel inflation most in utilities, rent, and auto costs.

Low- and moderate-income families face higher energy burdens relative to income and are less able to absorb surprise renewals for insurance or rent. In 2022, U.S. households spent an average 5.6% of income on energy, but for low-income households the burden neared 18%—a reminder that identical price changes do not have identical impacts.

How Consumers Are Adapting

Trading down is the defining behavior of the past two years. Roughly three-quarters of U.S. consumers report trading down, often toward private label—with U.S. store-brand sales up ~4% year over year in 2025. Shoppers are also buying smaller pack sizes, switching stores, and reducing discretionary trips. Brands, for their part, are offering a wider range of sizes and price points to keep customers in the franchise.

The food-price surge has slowed, but companies are still balancing volume and margins; multiple reports flagged that the “era of rapid price hikes” is over for many food makers, yet price levels remain high, so consumers continue to push for value.

The Standouts: Items With The Sharpest Recent Increases

• Motor Vehicle Insurance: The most persistent gainer across 2023–25, reflecting elevated repair and medical costs, weather losses, and reinsurance. +17.8% in 2024; growth moderated but remains elevated in 2025. Households are shopping policies more frequently, raising deductibles, or reducing coverage to contain bills.

• Electricity & Natural Gas: +6.2% and +13.8% year over year, respectively, in August 2025. These categories translate directly into monthly bills and are hard to substitute in the short run.

• Select Grocery Inputs (Cocoa, Sugar) → Confectionery: Record cocoa prices and tighter sugar supplies (plus tariffs on organic sugar) are still cycling through chocolate and sweets. Expect uneven normalization.

• Shelter (Rent/OER): Still rising month-to-month in CPI, with lags keeping pressure on lease renewals; the shelter index rose 0.4% in August.

• Airline Fares: Volatile and sensitive to jet fuel, capacity, and demand; +5.9% month-to-month in August. Don’t be surprised by swings across seasons.

Notably, gasoline has been an offset lately (–6.6% year over year), reminding us that energy can pull in different directions at once.

Five–To–Ten-Year Context: Why Prices Still Feel High

Even with slower year-over-year gains in 2024–25, the level of prices matters. The pandemic era embedded a step-up in everyday costs—especially groceries (about +25% since early 2020). Meanwhile, categories like auto insurance have continued to compound on top of that. Combined with shelter’s slow burn, the net effect is a purchasing-power squeeze that’s only partially relieved by easing headline inflation.

Wages have helped, but only so much. The Employment Cost Index shows ~3.6% year-over-year compensation growth into mid-2025—not negligible, but not enough to reset the grocery aisle to 2019 either.

What To Watch Next

1. Tariff Pass-Through: Many retailers and brands signaled that tariff-related costs may increasingly reach consumers in late-2025 depending on category, even if some firms still try to protect volume. Watch durable goods and imported household items in particular.

2. Insurance Normalization: Rate hikes appear to be slowing in 2025 from 2024’s blistering pace, but the level is high. Competitive dynamics and claim costs (parts, labor, catastrophe losses) will determine how quickly premiums cool.

3. Commodity Reset: If cocoa harvests improve and sugar policy stabilizes, confectionery could see relief in 2026 pricing cycles. Conversely, new supply shocks could extend the squeeze.

4. Shelter Lag: Private rent measures cooled earlier; as that filters through, shelter CPI should ease further—critical for headline inflation and household budgets.

5. Freight & Geopolitics: Shipping costs have calmed from early-2024 spikes, but geopolitical routing risks still hover over global logistics.

Bottom Line

Inflation is no longer a wildfire, but several embers keep glowing: auto insurance, utilities, tariff-sensitive household goods, and a handful of grocery inputs. Meanwhile, shelter’s lag keeps rent pressure alive even as private data cools. Consumers respond by trading down, embracing private label, and choosing smaller packs—tactics that stretch dollars but don’t change the fact that many prices stepped up and stayed there. The practical takeaway: expect a slower, uneven normalization—one that depends as much on services costs, policy choices, and logistics as on commodity charts.