Why Is Everything Still So Expensive? · 5 minutes 27 seconds · published 29 September 2026 · figures current to August 2026
Each one, what it's built from, and the date it's true as of. These are the film's figures as it was cut, frozen at the August 2026 data. The rest of this site shows today's. Nothing here is a forecast.
| Figure | Value | Series | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| The eleven items, October 2019 | $26.77 | APU… × 11 | Oct 2019 |
| The eleven items, today | $42.09 | APU… × 11 | Aug 2026 |
| — the difference | +$15.32, +57.2% | derived | Aug 2026 |
| The same list, 2012 → 2019 | $28.59 → $26.70, −6.6% | APU… × 11, yearly averages | 2012 / 2019 |
| Money supply, before Covid | $15.2T | M2SL | Oct 2019 |
| Money supply, today | $23.3T | M2SL | Aug 2026 |
| — more dollars | +$8.2T, +54% | derived | Aug 2026 |
| Typical rent, October 2019 | $1,394 | ZORI (Zillow) | Oct 2019 |
| Typical rent, today | $1,948 | ZORI | Aug 2026 |
| — the increase | +$554 a month | derived | Aug 2026 |
| How fast rent rose, October on October | +14.0% (2021) → +2.1% (2025); today +2.5% | ZORI | Oct 2021 – Aug 2026 |
| Typical full-time pay | $936 → $1,251 a week | LEU0252881500Q | Q4 2019 / Q2 2026 |
| — the raise, a year | +$16,380 | derived, ×52 | Q2 2026 |
| A 5% raise, after tax at the margin | 3.5% | 22% federal + 7.65% payroll | worked case |
| The raise, after tax | $11,523 | 22% federal + 7.65% payroll | worked case |
| The rent increase, a year | $6,648 | ZORI ×12 | Aug 2026 |
| — its share of the raise that reached you | 58% | derived | Aug 2026 |
| What is left of the raise | $4,875 a year, about $94 a week | derived | Aug 2026 |
| Eggs, peak | $6.23 | APU0000708111 | Mar 2025 |
| Eggs, today | $2.27 | APU0000708111 | Aug 2026 |
| — off the peak | −63.5%, in 17 months | derived | Aug 2026 |
| — against October 2019 | +77.2% ($1.28 → $2.27) | derived | Aug 2026 |
| Foods more than 10% below their own peak | four of eight: eggs −63.5%, bacon −13.2%, chicken −12.1%, bread −10.3% | APU…, peak since Jan 2019 | Aug 2026 |
| Items back to their October 2019 price | none of eleven | APU… × 11 | Aug 2026 |
| Hens lost, first wave | more than 29 million | USDA ERS, Charts of Note 103873 | by 2 May 2022 |
| Hens lost, second wave | 30.6 million | USDA AMS, Egg Markets Overview | by 21 Apr 2025 |
One of each, at the sizes BLS publishes. Each price is rounded to the cent; the totals are the sums of the unrounded prices, so the printed lines can differ from the total by a cent or two.
| Item | Oct 2019 | Aug 2026 | Series |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eggs, Dozen | $1.28 | $2.27 | APU0000708111 |
| Milk, Gallon | $3.12 | $4.23 | APU0000709112 |
| Bread, lb | $1.33 | $1.82 | APU0000702111 |
| Coffee, lb | $4.17 | $9.30 | APU0000717311 |
| Bacon, lb | $5.65 | $6.61 | APU0000704111 |
| Ground Beef, lb | $3.84 | $6.92 | APU0000703112 |
| Chicken Breast, lb | $2.95 | $4.17 | APU0000FF1101 |
| Bananas, lb | $0.57 | $0.65 | APU0000711211 |
| Gasoline, Gallon | $2.67 | $4.20 | APU000074714 |
| Electricity, kWh | $0.14 | $0.20 | APU000072610 |
| Natural Gas, Therm | $1.04 | $1.71 | APU000072620 |
| Total | $26.77 | $42.09 | sum of unrounded prices |
All public, all free to check. Append any code to fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ to pull it yourself.
| What | Publisher | Series |
|---|---|---|
| The eleven prices | Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, US city average | APU… (above) |
| Money supply | Federal Reserve, H.6, M2, seasonally adjusted | M2SL |
| Rent | Zillow Observed Rent Index, US, all homes plus multifamily — not a government series | ZORI |
| Pay | BLS, usual weekly earnings, full-time wage and salary workers (the median) | LEU0252881500Q |
| Hen losses | USDA Economic Research Service; USDA Agricultural Marketing Service | see above |
A fixed list of eleven named items, one of each, unweighted. Both totals are single months, October 2019 and August 2026. The 2012–2019 comparison uses yearly averages, because October 2012 has no ground-beef price.
Prices, money, pay and rent all start in October 2019, the same month the first film uses. “Before Covid” means October 2019. “Today” is the latest month published when the film was cut.
Asking rent: what a place lists for if you move, not what a sitting tenant pays on renewal. Yearly rates are October on October; the last bar is August 2026 on August 2025. Zillow revised its whole series in September 2026; the film uses the revised figures.
One worked case: a 22% federal bracket plus 7.65% payroll tax, applied to the raise, because a raise sits at the top of your income. Your bracket and your state change it.
“Four of the eight foods” is computed, not asserted: each food's latest price against its own peak since January 2019. Bread sits at −10.3%, close to the 10% line. If a later month moves the count, that goes under Updates, not into the film.
Nothing here is adjusted, deflated or reweighted. These are the published prices, added up.
None yet. The film is fixed at the August 2026 data; the rest of the site moves every month. When a figure the film states as current moves, it is recorded here.
None yet. When there are, they appear here — what was wrong, what it is now, and the date it changed. Nothing gets quietly edited. Found an error? Say so in the comments on the film, and cite the series.