Everything keeps getting more expensive in NYC—eggs, baked goods, electricity—as consumer prices in the Big Apple and nearby areas jumped nearly 1% last month, according to a government report released on Wednesday.
Consumer prices in the New York-Newark-Jersey City area increased 0.7% over the month in January, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said in its January 2025 report that came out on Feb. 12.
However, food prices remained unchanged in January, as prices at home and dining out were flat. The information comes as a surprise, as high-priced grocery items such as eggs continue to dominate the headlines.
Economists and elected officials alike have attributed the egg price increase to the ongoing bird flu outbreak across the nation that has devastated poultry farms where infected birds were detected.
Meanwhile, energy prices increased 2.6% over the month, with gas prices not far behind, with a 1.7% increase during the same period.
Taking a look throughout the year, the metro area’s food prices rose 1.7%; energy prices went up 3.3%. All items minus—food and energy—increased 4.4%.
But shelter is a big issue in the New York area and across the nation, according to Bruce Bergman, an economist at the BLS, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor.
“Locally rent increases are still somewhat elevated,” he said. “Residential rent was up 5.5% over the year, compared to 4.2% nationwide. And the New York number is not that far off from what it was in 2023 and 2024. In contrast, shelter and rent increases have decelerated faster nationally than in the New York area.”
Shelter has a big weight in the consumer price index, Bergman added.
“But even among other expenditure items, we are seeing higher local price increases—the ‘all items less shelter’ index was up 3.1% in New York, compared to the 2.2% average for our nation’s urban areas,” he said.
