Inflation: Marylander’s Stressed Over Household Costs, Recent Price Increases
Increases in major cost categories like housing and vehicles have contributed substantially to recent inflation, while sectors like food and energy have seen great volatility in prices. But one other significant source of pressure has been household items. Household items can represent a large chunk of household spending—and, with inflation, a big reason why more households in Maryland and elsewhere are feeling pinched.
Household items are typically classified as either durable or nondurable goods—where durable goods are those tangible products that can be stored or inventoried and that have an average life of at least three years, and nondurable goods have an average life of less than three years. Common household items include televisions, smartphones, furniture, apparel, cleaning supplies, and outdoor equipment.
Ranking Methodology:
Researchers ranked U.S. states according to the share of consumer spending spent on household items.
Researchers also ranked common household items based on their CPI percentage change from March 2020 to July 2024.
Results – Household Item Inflation:
- Cumulatively, nondurable goods now cost 20.7% more than they did in early 2020, while durable goods are up 16.2%.
- Since the pandemic began in March 2020, nine categories of household goods have seen prices cumulatively increase by more than 20%, led by household paper products with a 30.8% increase.
- Over the last year, video discs and other media have seen a price increase of 15.3%, with other categories also seeing increases well above the overall rate of CPI inflation.
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Consumer Spending Trends in Maryland:
- Overall, 13.2% of consumer spending in Maryland goes to household items.
- While 13.8% of adults in Maryland are facing severe difficulty paying for their usual household expenses, 42.2% admit to feeling very stressed about recent price increases.
Below is a complete data breakout for Maryland. The full report contains data on household spending characteristics for all 50 states, as well as price changes for nearly 50 common household items since March 2020.
| Location | Rank | Share of consumer spending spent on household items | Per capita consumer spending on household items | Share of adults having severe difficulty paying for usual household expenses | Share of adults very stressed about recent price increases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 23 | 13.2% | $6,941 | 13.8% | 42.2% |
| United States | – | 13.5% | $7,117 | 16.8% | 45.6% |
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The analysis was conducted by Trace One, a company that provides PLM and compliance software for food and beverage manufacturers and CPG retailers. The original report may be found here: https://www.traceone.com/