According to a new report, the typical American household needs roughly an additional $11,400 just to maintain an identical lifestyle they had the month Biden took office – and the real figure could be even higher.
According to CBS:
The typical American household must spend an additional $11,434 annually just to maintain the same standard of living they enjoyed in January of 2021, right before inflation soared to 40-year highs, according to a recent analysis of government data.
Such figures underscore the financial squeeze many families continue to face even as the rate of U.S. inflation recedes and the economy by many measures remains strong, with the jobless rate at a two-decade low.
Even so, many Americans say they aren’t feeling those gains, and this fall more people reported struggling financially than they did prior to the pandemic, according to CBS News polling. Inflation is the main reason Americans express pessimism about the economy despite its bright points, which also include stronger wage gains in recent years.
According to BLS data, $119.27 is needed today to purchase what $100 could’ve purchased pre-pandemic, though admittedly it’s hard to believe the government’s statistics on this. After all, who can think of something they regularly purchase that *only* went up by 20% over the past few years? If the official government estimates are implying that the average household needs an additional $11,400 to maintain their standard of living, we can treat that as a minimum.
