It's not just you — food prices rose 2.4% last year

Marketplace

American Public Media

News, Business

4.6 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The cost of food consumed at home was up 0.7% month-over-month in December, and 2.4% year-over-year. Go back five years, and grocery prices are up 25%. And like so many things in this economy, the rising cost hurts the poorest Americans most. Also in this episode: Americans carry credit card debt longer than they used to, two ultra-low-cost U.S. airlines make plans to merge, and we get an update from Kansas grain farmers.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	When it comes to inflation, there are things we can give up when prices get too high, but food is non-negotiable.
0:10.7	From American public media, this is Marketplace.
0:28.4	From Colorado Public Radio in Denver, I'm Amy Scott in for Kai Rizdahl.
0:32.1	It's Tuesday, January 13th. Good to have you with us.
0:39.0	The overall inflation news today from the Consumer Price Index wasn't too bad. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said headline prices increased 3 tenths percent in December from the month before,
0:45.2	2.7 percent on an annual basis, same rate as in November. One stubborn outlier, though, was food.
0:52.9	The cost of food consumed at home, aka groceries, was up 7 tenths percent for the month. And if you go back five years, it's up about 25 percent. Marketplace's Stephanie Hughes takes a look at how people are getting by.
1:08.0	At Patterson Food Market, a small corner store in Baltimore, Courtney Johnson is shopping for a snack.
1:14.1	Let me get some hot sausages, bro, two of them.
1:16.6	What kind?
1:17.3	Any kind, buns, any kind.
1:18.9	I mean, you know what kind?
1:20.3	These are jerky, dried sausages.
1:22.7	Johnson also gets a 16-ounce soda.
1:25.1	Another customer, Eric Smith, buys a soda, too.
1:27.5	It's $2.
1:28.7	And outside the store, Smith says that's too much.
1:31.6	I mean, a year ago, the same soda that it just paid for was $150 in the same store.
1:37.2	How does it make you feel?
1:39.7	Robbed.
1:40.6	Smith says he doesn't blame the store owner, but it makes him think there's something wrong with the overall system.
1:46.5	Cornell Agricultural economist Chris Barrett says rising food prices make shoppers feel powerless.
	...

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