Feeling the Pinch? Unpacking What Costs You More in Colorado and the Nation

You feel it every time you leave the grocery store. And each month you write that rent check, well, you wonder, just when will things quit getting more expensive?

Everything in Colorado, it seems, costs more and more these days.

In fact, it now takes $124.08 to buy what $100 did in 2019, according to the CPI inflation calculator.

And a March report confirms what you feel and that it continues.

The consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, jumped 3.5% in March. Watchers didn’t expect such an increase.

According to the Labor Department, which tracks cost-of-living data, gas prices and rent costs drove CPI growth.

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“Shelter costs” had been expected to fall throughout the year. Instead, they are up 5.7% from last year.

For those looking for better interest rates for buying a home, well, that now could be delayed as interest rate cuts are now likely to be pushed out.

What cost more this year than last?

Food costs, overall, are up slightly, just 0.1%. Egg costs drove the price hikes you feel checking out at the grocery store. Egg prices grew 4.6%. Bonus: Restaurant and other food grabbed away from home grew just a bit, 0.3%.

Energy keeps growing, too, up 1.1% on top of February’s 2.3%.

Shelter (including housing and related costs) jumped 5.7% after jumping 8.2% last March. Analysts see the slower growth as a positive, even if renters don’t feel it when writing the check.

How much more expensive are things in Colorado?

The last report of price increases for Western states came out in February. And while, you might be feeling the compounding effect of prices increasing over the last year, financial firm Moody’s says our region’s inflation is among the lowest in the nation at 2.5%.

Food at home: up 2.3% from last year.

Restaurants and other grab-and-go food: up 4.4% since last year.

Electricity: up 11.5%.

Gas: Down 4%.

Natural gas: Down 5.3%.