Final preelection inflation tally: How much prices have risen under Biden

The final inflation report has been released ahead of the November elections . Here is how much prices have risen since President Joe Biden entered office.

The consumer price index for September was released Thursday. It showed that inflation was 2.4% for the year ending in the month, nearing the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal. Despite recent declines, inflation is still the No. 1 concern on voters’ minds, given the years of cumulative price growth.

Overall, inflation gauged by the consumer price index has risen nearly 20% since January 2021, when Biden became president. However, cumulative inflation has been worse or less than that, depending on the good or service in question, and price growth is playing a major role in the contest between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Food is perhaps the good voters have most viscerally experienced inflation with. Families eat every day and go to the grocery store regularly, so they are closely attuned to how much or little groceries cost. That is why the Trump campaign has taken pains to highlight just how much prices of various food items have gone up under Biden.

Since January 2021, grocery prices have, on average, risen by 21.6%, while food at restaurants now costs nearly 24% more than it did then. Ground beef is a whopping 43% more costly than before Biden, while chicken breasts have experienced 16.7% inflation.

Meanwhile, fruit and vegetable prices have risen more than 14%, milk prices are up 16%, cereal and bakery products are nearly 26% pricier, sugar and sweets are up 24%, and butter prices are now more than 37% higher than in January 2021.

Energy prices, while volatile because of a variety of factors, have also risen under Biden. Gas prices spiked in mid-2022 during the worst of the inflationary bout and have since declined but are still more than 38% higher. The price of fuel oil is also up 31%.

Electricity prices have also risen. They have risen by 3.7% over the past year, tracking higher than overall inflation. However, since January 2021, the cost of powering a home has become increasingly expensive. Electricity prices have risen more than 28% since Biden entered office.

Household furnishings are 15.8% more costly than in January 2021, clothing and apparel prices have risen nearly 12%, new cars cost about 18.8% more, and the value of used cars has inflated more than 13%. In some good news, though, video and audio products, such as televisions, have actually become more than 11% cheaper in the past few years.

Housing prices have also caused consumers hardship. According to the CPI, shelter costs across the board have risen by 23% under Biden, and average rent prices have risen by about the same amount.

Medical care services have become 8.5% more costly, while transportation services, which include things such as auto insurance and airline fares, have skyrocketed more than 40% in just a few years.

Recreation services prices, such as subscriptions to streaming services, cable, and movie tickets, have increased nearly 16% under the Biden administration.

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While inflation has been falling and is nearing the Fed’s 2% level, cumulative inflation has been a major talking point from Republicans and Trump, who has used it as a cudgel to attack Biden and now Harris, for the sticker shock voters are now feeling.

Because of inflation, the Fed has also been forced to raise interest rates to their highest level since the turn of the century, making things such as taking out auto loans more expensive and driving up mortgage rates to the point where home ownership is out of reach for many people in the United States.