PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It's costing us less to stock up on some holiday essentials compared to last year, but prices in several categories have increased.
Overall, 65% of items increased in price — an improvement from 2022 when 88% got more expensive, according to financial company Bankrate.
Bankrate Analyst Sarah Foster says many consumers become frustrated when they hear inflation is slowing while they are still paying more than what they’re used to for basic items.
“I mean, it's very salient to them how much it used to cost to fill up their gas tank, or how much a carton of eggs used to cost before the pandemic, and I think a lot of Americans do kind of remember that most, whereas economists are looking at annual inflation rates because they want to know if inflation is slowing.”
Alcohol, flour, and tickets to concerts and sporting events are just some of the things we are paying more for this year.
The cost of flour is up 3% according to Bankrate. Alcohol people buy for their homes is up 1.5% from a year ago, and if you catch yourself out at a restaurant, the cost is about 5.2% more.
Movie and concert tickets are about 4.5% more expensive than last year, and admission to sporting events is up 16.5%.
Last year’s highest-inflated item was eggs — this year, it’s the least.
“If you were gonna zoom out to pre-pandemic levels, they’re still up about 25% since then,” Foster said. “So it's one of those instances of how egg prices are not rising as quickly as they once were, but they’re still more expensive than they were before the pandemic.”
Foster says the economic outlook is strong.
“Slowing inflation is expected to happen throughout the rest of next year, too,” she said, “and so hopefully Americans can continue to at least catch up from a wage standpoint where I think that really is kind of the point when they’ll start to feel better.”