| Chart of the Day |
| OCTOBER 14, 2026 |
COST OF LIVING • FOOD |
|
| Your $100 Grocery Run From 2020 Costs $138 Today |
| A pound of ground beef is up 68% since the start of the decade, and it is not done climbing. |
| BEEF |
|
+68% |
| EGGS |
|
+50% |
| BREAD |
|
+26% |
| CHCKN |
|
+30% |
| MILK |
|
+27% |
|
|
|
| Percent change in average U.S. retail price per unit, 2020 vs. August 2026. Beef is per pound, eggs per dozen, bread per loaf, chicken breast per pound, milk per gallon. |
| Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2026 |
|
| This morning’s CPI report came in at 3.7% for September... up from 3.4% in August, hotter than Wall Street expected. The usual suspects pointed at gasoline, which jumped 9.1% in a single month. But you already knew gas was expensive. What you might not have thought about is what happened to everything else in the six years since 2020. |
| Most people hear “inflation is 3.7%” and think prices went up 3.7%. They didn’t. That’s this year’s increase... stacked on top of last year’s increase... stacked on top of the year before that. Inflation compounds, just like interest. And your grocery bill has been compounding against you for six straight years. |
| Look at ground beef. In 2020, a pound cost $4.12. Today, the BLS says $6.92. That’s 68% more for the same one pound of hamburger. And it’s not getting better. The U.S. cattle herd is at a 75-year low, which means less supply chasing the same demand. Eggs are up 50% from their 2020 price. Bread, 26%. Even a gallon of milk, the one item everyone thinks is cheap, is up 27%. |
| Now here’s what really gets me. If you filled a grocery cart with the basics in 2020 and spent $100, that same cart, same brands, same quantities, rings up at roughly $138 today. Your Social Security COLA didn’t keep up with that. Your savings account paying 0.4% didn’t keep up with that. And if your portfolio returned 40% over those six years, congratulations... you barely broke even against the grocery aisle. |
| This is the part of inflation that doesn’t show up on a stock ticker. It shows up on a receipt. And every single week, it takes a little more out of your pocket than it did the week before. |
