Inflation Increases MD Costs, How Much To Budget For Extra Expenses

Every Marylander who has put gas in the car or flinched at the total of their grocery bill knows that prices are continuing to climb.

Inflation hit a new, 40-year high in March, jumping 8.5 percent over the previous 12 months, according to a new Labor Department report released Tuesday. The news spells trouble for Maryland households already feeling the pinch of rising costs for necessities.

Estimates vary on how much extra money Maryland residents should build into their household budgets through the end of the year. Bloomberg News calculates households should plan to spend $5,200 more this year, or $433 a month, for the same "consumption basket."

In the greater Baltimore-DC region, the price of all items has gone up 7.3 percent since March 2021. Food prices are up 7.2 percent over the past year, and 0.2 percent just since February 2022, according to statistics in the Labor Department's report.

Increased prices for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, up 10.0 percent, and fruits and vegetables, up 8.6 percent, led the general rise in grocery prices.