How the cost of monthly utilities, car insurance and child care is soaring

Published

2 years ago

December 1, 2023

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It’s not just grocery staples like eggs, milk, bread and coffee that are going through the roof — it’s also the hit from basic monthly payments like heat, electricity, car insurance and child care.

While housing costs and car payments continue to dog consumers amid stubbornly stiff interest rates, new figures from the US Energy Information Administration reveal that homeowners and renters alike are getting no relief from their associated monthly bills.

Those include electricity, which has climbed 25% since January 2020, the year before President Joe Biden took office and began touting his Bidenomics agenda.

California residents have experienced among the fastest-climbing electricity bills, which have popped a stunning 59% from the start of January through October 2023, per EIA.

Maine also experienced one of the steepest surges in electric costs, at 42%, while New Yorkers faced a roughly 38% pop in the same three-plus-year time period.

It’s part of the cold reality looming for most US voters who believe the odds of achieving the so-called “American Dream” are stacked against them.

For consumers faced with heating their homes this winter, the price of natural gas is also up 29% since January 2020, according to EIA figures that were earlier reported on by Bloomberg.

The figures contradict the latest Consumer Price Index, which reported that the energy index fell 2.5% on a monthly basis in October as gasoline tumbled 5% — figures Biden spun as good news for Bidenomics, which popped a historic $2 trillion hole in the federal budget last month.

Car insurance costs are following the same trend as Americans face monthly payments that are 33% higher than they were at the start of 2020.

The advance is faster than the previous three years, from 2016 to 2019 combined, when monthly car insurance payments ticked 21% higher, according to Bloomberg.

The cost of the car itself has also revved to a record-breaking $736 per month for a new vehicle, according to automotive company Edmunds.

In another grim all-time high, Edmunds found that 17.5% of Americans’ monthly car payment exceeds $1,000.

Healthcare plans also became more costly.

The average employer-sponsored health insurance premium for US families reached almost $24,000 this year, according to an annual KFF survey of more than 2,000 American companies — up a punishing 7% compared with a 1% increase a year earlier

Premiums for individual employer coverage rose at the same rate.

And as of 2022, the average annual cost of child care nationally was $10,853 — or roughly 10% of the average married couple’s median income — according to Bloomberg, citing data from Child Care Aware of America.

However, costs varied by region. States in the Northeast charge the most for child care, CCAoA found, running parents $30,514 for two children.

For reference, CCAoA’s annual survey found that housing costs in the area average $25,557 and the average child care professional earns an average of $28,520 per year.

In 41 states plus the District of Columbia, the average annual price of child care for two children exceeds average annual mortgage payments by anywhere from 1% to 53% — and rent payments by a staggering 100% — per the CCAoA.

Politics

Bhutan should embrace decentralized identity systems

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2 hours ago

July 17, 2025

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Bhutan should embrace decentralized identity systems

Bhutan’s unique naming culture and values of sovereignty make it a strong candidate for adopting blockchain-based identity systems.

World

Pope ‘deeply saddened’ by deaths at sole Catholic church in Gaza after Israeli strike

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2 hours ago

July 17, 2025

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Pope 'deeply saddened' by deaths at sole Catholic church in Gaza after Israeli strike

The Pope has said he is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of three people in an Israeli strike on the only Catholic church in Gaza.

A further nine people were wounded when the Gaza’s Holy Family Church was hit, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement.

“On behalf of the entire Church of the Holy Land, we extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families, and from here, we offer our prayers for the swift and full recovery of the wounded,” the statement reads.

“The Latin Patriarchate strongly condemns this tragedy and this targeting of innocent civilians and of a sacred place.

“However, this tragedy is not greater or more terrible than the many others that have befallen Gaza.”

Parish priest Father Gabriele Romanelli, an Argentinian who used to regularly update the late Pope Francis about the conflict in Gaza, was lightly injured in the attack.

In a telegram for the victims, Pope Leo said he was “deeply saddened” and called for “an immediate ceasefire”.

The Pope expressed his “profound hope for dialogue, reconciliation and enduring peace in the region,” according to the telegram, which was signed by the Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin.

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told the Vatican News website that the church was shelled by a tank.

“What we know for sure is that a tank, the IDF says by mistake, but we are not sure about this, they hit the Church directly, the Church of the Holy Family, the Latin Church”, he said

The church was sheltering both Christians and Muslims, including a number of children with disabilities, according to Fadel Naem, acting director of Al-Ahli Hospital, which received the wounded.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was “aware of reports regarding damage caused to the Holy Family Church in Gaza City and casualties at the scene. The circumstances of the incident are under review”.

“The IDF makes every feasible effort to mitigate harm to civilians and civilian structures, including religious sites,
and regrets any damage caused to them,” the statement added.

Israel’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X that the results of the investigation would be published.

It also said the country did not target churches or religious sites and regretted harm to them or civilians.

The previous pope, Francis, spoke almost daily with Gaza church. In the last 18 months of his life, Francis would often call the church in the Gaza Strip to see how people huddled inside were coping with a devastating war.

At least 20 more people were killed on Thursday by Israeli attacks across the besieged enclave, medics said.

Throughout the 21-month war, more than 58,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel’s military campaign, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count.

Israel launched a retaliatory campaign against Hamas following the militant group’s 7 October 2023 attacks, during which 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.

World

Syria’s president vows to protect Druze population after Israel airstrikes – as new ceasefire begins

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2 hours ago

July 17, 2025

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Syria's president vows to protect Druze population after Israel airstrikes - as new ceasefire begins

Syria’s president has said protecting the rights of the Druze population is “our priority” after Israel warned it would destroy forces attacking the minority.

In a televised statement early today, Ahmed al Sharaa told the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

Several hundred people have reportedly been killed this week in the south of Syria in violence involving local fighters, government authorities and Bedouin tribes.

Following the president’s announcement and a ceasefire agreement, Syrian government forces on Thursday largely withdrew from the volatile southern province of Sweida.

Under the terms of the agreement, Druze factions and clerics have been appointed to maintain internal security.

As the violence escalated in Sweida, Israel launched airstrikes, including attacks on Wednesday on the defence ministry in Damascus and a target near the presidential palace.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has pledged to “act resolutely against any terrorist threat on its borders”.

The Druze population follow an offshoot of Islam and are estimated to number about one million, spread between Syria, Lebanon and Israel.

Sharaa – Syria’s interim leader after President Assad fled last year – gave a televised statement on Wednesday telling the Druze “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party”.

“We are not among those who fear the war,” he added.

“We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” said the president.

He also claimed Israel has “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime”.

Israel has accused the Syrian regime of being barely disguised jihadists – despite warming ties with Western countries such as the UK and US.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, as of Wednesday morning, more than 300 people had been killed in the flare-up of violence.

Around 1,000 Druze people broke through a fence into southern Syria on Wednesday in a bid to help, according to The Times of Israel.

Prime Minister Netanyahu urged people not to cross into Syria and Israeli military chief of staff Eyal Zamir warned they would not “allow southern Syria to become a terror stronghold”.

The UN Security Council will discuss the situation today, despite the US secretary of state saying yesterday that America had brokered an end to the violence.

“We have engaged all the parties involved in the clashes in Syria,” Marco Rubio said on social media.

“We have agreed on specific steps that will bring this troubling and horrifying situation to an end tonight.”