<p>Following months of rising costs, inflation saw the biggest single-month drop in six years in June thanks to cheaper clothes, medical care and transportation, coupled with rapidly falling energy prices.</p><p>Across the board, consumer costs decreased 0.4% last month after rising 0.5% in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ <a href=”https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm”>latest report</a> released Tuesday. That month-over-month change is largely due to easing oil and gas prices, with the index for energy falling a noticeable 5.7% — the most since April 2020.</p><p>Whether energy prices will continue their downward trend remains to be seen. The Iran war has disrupted oil production and distribution in the Middle East, particularly with the effective closure of the <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/03/13/strait-of-hormuz-explainer/”>Strait of Hormuz</a>, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is shipped. While May and June saw an <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/18/us-iran-war-deal-what-to-know/”>interim deal to end the war</a>, temporary reprieves from hostilities and <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/17/iran-reopen-strait-of-hormuz/”>the strait’s reopening</a>, recent and intensifying strikes by both the Islamic Republic and the United States have halted that progress. Just last week, President Donald Trump said the <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/09/us-iran-interim-deal/”>ceasefire is “over,”</a> and oil prices are already nearing their highest in a month.</p><p>Moreover, despite June’s dips, a look across the last year shows prices remain stubbornly high. Energy costs are up a whopping 15.7% in the last 12 months, and overall inflation is 3.5% higher than it was just a year ago — still well above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.</p><p>The Tribune is tracking 11 everyday costs for Americans — eggs, milk, bread, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, chicken, ground beef, gasoline, electricity and natural gas — and how they are changing, or not, under the second Trump administration. This tracker is updated monthly using <a href=”https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.toc.htm”>CPI data</a> from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.</p><p><em>To see the average U.S. price of a specific good, click on the dropdown arrow below and select the item you wish to view.</em></p><p></p><h4>Eggs</h4><p>Egg prices tumbled again in June, dropping another 5 cents to land at a two-and-a-half-year low.</p><p>Costs have declined every month since <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/04/11/us-consumer-goods-price-tracker/”>March 2025</a>, following a massive outbreak of bird flu that disrupted the egg supply and sent retail prices soaring. A dozen large Grade A eggs are now 43% cheaper than they were this time last year, priced at $2.14.</p><h4>Milk</h4><p></p><p>Milk, however, is getting more expensive.</p><p>Prices spiked by 10 cents month-over-month to $4.32 for a gallon of fresh, fortified whole milk — an all-time high according to BLS data.</p><p>This is occurring at a time when both milk production and the number of dairy cows are rising, per the June <a href=”https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/29232/ldp-m-384.pdf?v=75765″>Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook</a> report. That points to higher prices likely being a byproduct of increased operating and distribution costs — namely feed and fuel.</p><h4>Bread</h4><p>Bread prices saw a subtle 2-cent drop from May.</p><p>At $1.81 per pound of white bread, the national average is down about 3% year-over-year.</p><h4>Bananas</h4><p></p><p>Banana prices, meanwhile, were unchanged in June, remaining at $0.65 per pound for a third-straight month. Yet, average costs for the potassium-rich fruit are up nearly 4% since Trump took office.</p><h4>Oranges</h4><p>Oranges also saw no change.</p><p>Prices are bucking seasonal trends, with the beloved citrus fruit typically cheapest in the winter, climbing in the summer months and then peaking in cost around September or October each year.</p><p>A pound of navel oranges is now averaging $1.54 — down approximately 6% in the last year.</p><h4>Tomatoes</h4><p>Tomato prices are plummeting. Costs fell by 34 cents from May to June, settling at $2.15 per pound of field-grown tomatoes.</p><p>What’s more, consumers can expect several months of plunging prices. Normally, costs decline throughout the spring and summer as fresh tomatoes begin to be harvested stateside.</p><p>But even with the recent drop-off, costs remain elevated for this time of year. And driving unseasonably high prices? Tariffs.</p><p>Last July the Trump administration implemented a <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/07/14/mexican-tomatoes-duty/”>17% import tax</a> on all Mexican-grown tomatoes. Given that the vast majority of those sold in the U.S. come from our neighbors at the southern border, American shoppers are bearing the financial brunt of higher import rates.</p><p>Notably, since that duty took effect, retail prices have leapt 20%.</p><h4>Chicken</h4><p></p><p>In June, the average price of fresh, whole chicken was $2.04 a pound, roughly the same as the month prior.</p><p>Unlike other meat products, the cost of chicken has seen little fluctuation as of late. In fact, when President Joe Biden left the White House in January 2025, average store prices were just 2 cents more.</p><h4>Ground beef</h4><p>The cost of ground beef is skyrocketing.</p><p>Prices jumped 26 cents over the previous month, with the average cost of ground beef now just shy of $7 per pound nationwide — an all-time record.</p><p>The historically high prices seen this year are the result of a domestic cattle shortage. According to data from the <a href=”https://esmis.nal.usda.gov/sites/default/release-files/795748/catl0126.pdf”>National Agricultural Statistics Service</a>, the U.S. cattle inventory is at a 75-year low because of unfavorable economic and environmental conditions.</p><p>Wildfires and extreme drought out West and in the Plains have affected herd sizes. Drought damages pasturelands, reduces the natural feed supply and restricts water access, all needed for raising large, roaming livestock. The result? Ranchers incur higher operating costs or are forced to cull their cattle. On top of that, foreign and domestic outbreaks of <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/06/04/new-world-screwworm-explainer/”>New World screwworm</a>, a flesh-eating parasite, are further straining the already tight cattle supply and driving up expenses due to costly disease monitoring and prevention measures.</p><p>At the same time, demand for beef is “historically high,” according to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. Thus, raised retail prices are a simple economic conclusion given the current market.</p><p>“It’s just a supply and demand thing,” said Cliff McConville, an Illinois cattle farmer. “The supply is down and the demand has been strong.”</p><p>At $6.98 per pound of 100% ground beef chuck, prices have ballooned by 27% since the change of administrations — a difference of nearly $1.50 a pound.</p><p>https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/10/rising-summer-beef-prices/</p><h4>Electricity</h4><p>Electric costs are surging too.</p><p>At 20 cents per kilowatt-hour, the current price of electricity is the highest on record. With the average American household using roughly 899 kWh every four weeks, that translates to a monthly bill of approximately $178 before delivery charges, taxes and other fees.</p><p>Unfortunately for Illinoisans, higher electric prices are likely coming to all corners of the state. ComEd, Chicago’s primary electric utility, is seeking a <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/01/comed-rate-reconciliation/”>$234 million rate reconciliation</a> for rising costs incurred, in large part, from data centers. If approved, city residents would see an extra charge of $2.97 per month beginning next year. Likewise for <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/05/05/electricity-rates-ameren-data-centers/”>Ameren customers downstate</a>, higher electric bills are expected again this summer.</p><p>But it’s not just the Prairie State. Price hikes have hit the whole country. Since January 2025, the average cost of electricity has increased by more than 10%. That equates to a $17 monthly surcharge for the average homeowner or renter.</p><h4>Gasoline</h4><p></p><p>For the first time since the start of the Iran war, gas prices have cooled.</p><p>The average nationwide cost of gasoline dropped 46 cents month-over-month<strong>,</strong> registering at $4.20 per gallon of regular unleaded. In Chicago, the price at the pump dropped more rapidly, falling 61 cents since May to average out at $4.46 a gallon, according to the <a href=”https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_yord_dpg&f=m”>U.S. Energy Information Administration.</a></p><p>Even so, prices have a ways to go before they return to prewar levels. Nationally, a fill-up costs $1.23 more per gallon than it did prior to the war’s opening salvos on Feb. 28. Plus, with Tehran resuming its <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/07/tanker-set-ablaze-strait-of-hormuz/”>attacks on tankers</a> in the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. <a href=”https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/07/15/iran-mideast-energy/”>reinstating a naval blockade</a> on Iran Wednesday, oil and gas distribution in the region is once again in question. If aggression between the two countries continues to ramp up, higher energy prices could be coming again this summer.</p><p>Prior to the conflict in the Middle East, the president<strong> </strong>oversaw consistently lower costs compared with his predecessor. Just this January, prices fell below $3 per gallon for the first time in almost five years. Now those gains have been erased and then some, with the national average currently 33% higher than it was in the last full month under Biden.</p><h4>Natural Gas</h4><p>The cost of piped utility gas, or natural gas, ticked up slightly last month, measuring an increase of just 1 cent per therm.</p><p>Relatively high natural gas inventories and the record production forecast for this year are “helping limit upward price pressures,” according to the EIA’s <a href=”https://www.eia.gov/outlooks/steo/report/natgas.php”>Short-Term Energy Outlook</a> released last week.</p><p>Still, Americans are paying nearly 9% more to heat their homes, ovens and stovetops than when Trump started his second term. As of June, natural gas cost an average of $1.69 per therm nationwide.</p>
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