The cost of living in the Bay Area jumped during October, a forbidding new burden for the region’s feeble rebound from coronavirus-linked economic jolts, with food and fuel costs leading the charge to higher prices.
The annual inflation rate reached 3.8% in October in the Bay Area compared to the same month the year before.
Coupled with the 3.8% Bay Area inflation rate reported in April of this year, the current inflation levels are the highest since late 2018 when inflation was 4.5% in the region, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
The cost of food items such as meat, along with unleaded gasoline prices, as well as electricity and natural gas provided by utilities, drove the increase in the region’s consumer price index, this news organization’s analysis of the report shows.
Among the dramatic annualized price increases in the Bay Area during October:
— Regular unleaded gasoline skyrocketed by a head-spinning 40.2%
— Used vehicle costs zoomed 25.6%
— Natural gas piped into the home hopped 21.7% higher
— Meat, poultry, fish and egg prices soared 13.6%
— Electricity used at home was 9.1% more expensive
— Food costs overall jumped 5.6%, driven primarily by an increase of 7.1% for food consumed at home.
Nationwide, the inflation rate of 6.2% in October was the highest since 1992.
