Inflation drives up family expenses by hundreds per month since Jan. 2025
A sample family budget shows monthly costs have risen by $275 since January 2025, as inflation continues to outpace wage growth and voters express dissatisfaction with President Trump’s economic policies.
WASHINGTON —
A family of four with two children in daycare and a pet could be paying about $275 more each month for everyday expenses than when President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, according to an analysis by our Get the Facts Data Team.
This week, the Consumer Price Index showed prices were up 3.7% over the past year, while the Producer Price Index showed prices paid by businesses were up 6.3%.
During his 2024 campaign, Trump promised to bring prices down.
“Starting on day one, we will drive down prices and make America affordable again. We have to make it affordable. It’s not affordable. People can’t live like this,” Trump said at the Republican National Convention in 2024.
With the midterm elections approaching, our Get the Facts Data Team looked at what has happened to some of the everyday costs families pay. The team built an interactive tool that lets you enter what you spend each month on groceries, gasoline, electricity, childcare and pet food. The tool then uses Consumer Price Index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate how those costs have changed since Trump took office.
To show how those changes can add up, we built a family-of-four example using national spending benchmarks from several different sources.
For groceries, we used about $1,150 a month, based on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Moderate-Cost Food Plan for a family of four with two young children.
For gasoline, we used about $220 a month based on household spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
For electricity, we used about $150 a month based on national residential electricity data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
For childcare, we used about $2,350 a month. That is based on Child Care Aware of America’s national average prices for center-based care for an infant and a 4-year-old.
For pet food, we used about $60 a month, an estimate based on American Pet Products Association data on nationwide spending on pet food and treats and the number of U.S. households that own pets.
We then entered each of those monthly amounts into the Get the Facts tool.
The tool does not simply apply the overall inflation rate to the entire budget. Instead, it looks at how prices have changed in each individual category since January 2025 and applies those changes to the amount entered for that expense.
Those changes vary significantly. Since Trump took office, the Consumer Price Index for groceries has risen about 3.5%, electricity about 10% and gasoline nearly 40%.
When the changes across all five categories are added together, the tool estimates those expenses now cost our family-of-four example about $275 more each month than they did in January 2025.
The example is meant to show how higher prices can add up. Your number will be different depending on what your household spends, where you live, your childcare needs and other factors. You can enter your own monthly expenses into the Get the Facts tool to see an estimate for your budget.
“People are spending, but they’re being very, very careful how they spend. They’re looking to stretch their dollar,” said Mark Mathews, chief economist and executive director of research at the National Retail Federation.
Mathews recommends shopping around, using retailer apps and promotions and even using artificial intelligence tools to compare prices.
NerdWallet recommends looking at some of the biggest bills that hit each month. That can include canceling subscriptions you no longer use and shopping around or trying to negotiate recurring expenses such as phone, internet and insurance.
At the grocery store, NerdWallet also recommends comparing the price per ounce or pound instead of looking only at the sticker price.
Republicans argue their tax cuts are leaving families with more money in their pockets. But higher prices have been eating into paychecks, with inflation outpacing average hourly wage growth over the past year.
The latest AP-NORC poll, conducted Oct. 8-12, found 25% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of the economy and 19% approve of his handling of the cost of living.
A separate AP-NORC poll conducted in late September found 65% of adults said higher-than-usual prices were the result of Trump’s policies, while 34% attributed them more to factors beyond the president’s control.
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