Arizona’s Family on surging inflation: “The reality for a lot of families is that the items that they have here in their kitchen are now starting to take a much bigger bite out of their household budget”
Published
This post is part of a series chronicling news coverage of rising prices in the United States. See more here.
Citation
From a June 10, 2026, video posted to the YouTube channel of Arizona's Family
CONSUMER 1: I feel like it's always been feeling like it's more than 4 at this point. I don't know. Just getting groceries, simple things, is so expensive.
ALEXIS DOMINGUEZ (REPORTER): The latest Labor Department report shows inflation rose 4.2% over the past year. Ask people where they feel it most, and many will tell you the same thing.
CONSUMER 1: Gas. Or like, fresh food.
CONSUMER 2: You know, I think the gas prices.
DOMINGUEZ: Gas prices jumped 50% compared to the beginning of the year, and consumers say they're feeling that pain every time they fill up their tank and fill up their cart.
Tomato prices rose 32%. Lettuce is up nearly 25%. Beef prices went up 10% from a year ago. And coffee rose more than 17%.
At coffee shops like this one, owners are trying to make sure it doesn't translate to higher menu prices.
CONSUMER 3: And I feel like it always comes and goes, but for sure, groceries, groceries for sure have been the main one.
CONSUMER 2: I have noticed actually, like chicken and steak to have a, you know, a little bit more bite to it, I guess you can say.
DOMINGUEZ: And for customers already paying closer attention to every purchase—
CONSUMER 2: And I think we're a little bit more selective about, you know, what we purchase at the grocery store.
DOMINGUEZ: It's getting harder to tell whether buying food or going out to eat is a better option.
CONSUMER 3: I feel like now it's easier to kind of just go out to eat instead of buying groceries because it's just going to cost us the same.
CONSUMER 4: We're at a point where we can't even figure out if it's more expensive to stay home and eat, or go out and eat for happy hour, or things like that.
DOMINGUEZ: And now 3 out of 4 Americans say that their wages are not keeping up with this inflation, so the reality for a lot of families is that the items that they have here in their kitchen are now starting to take a much bigger bite out of their household budget.