Updated December 23, 2022 at 2:46 PM ET
Boy, have we talked a lot this year. And for good reason: Our rents and mortgages went up, so did grocery and utility bills.
A confluence of events — pricier oil from Russia's war in Ukraine, and a — all made for some dramatic headlines. But how does it all come together?
Here are some of the key ways our lives got pricier and cheaper (it wasn't all bad news!) in 2022.
Adulting
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Yikes. It was a rough year for the old bank account: Housing, and got pricier, and our pandemic-era savings petered out. Maybe not too surprising that we started charging more to our credit cards. The did slice (silver lining!), but mainly because (very dark cloud).
Groceries
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Breakfast – the most important meal of the day (supposedly) – has gotten quite expensive. Eggs were an inflation high-flyer, largely because of a historic . Lower dairy production pushed up butter and milk prices. The war in boosted bread prices. At least and avocados are giving us a break. So is beef. It's What's For Dinner—and breakfast?
Going out & staying in
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After cooped-up 2020 and 2021, this was the comeback year. and concert venues filled up. Big demand plus and higher food costs pushed up menu prices. Meanwhile, after massive of home electronics, stores were – just when people kind of didn't need any more, giving us some of the around.
Work things
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This was the year of raises that were quickly eaten by . A pandemic-fueled continued, though it began to slow. And forget "" – people actually quit jobs and took new (better?) ones at such a rapid pace that nationwide as workers settled in to new positions (at least that's the most optimistic explanation).
Going places
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Ahoy savers! Sure, planes, hotels and automobiles ( and ) got more expensive, but have you considered an ocean liner? It may not take you many places in the U.S., but at least the CDC is now?
The markets
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It was back to the future for markets. Russia's war in Ukraine , sending global toward record highs. Oil companies had a banner year thanks to . Meanwhile, and got a major reality check. The tech-heavy Nasdaq exchange of its value.
Big picture
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Seen this way, 2022 wasn't a terrible year overall. The economy grew, supply chain pressures eased and . As long as you don't need to buy anything or , things are looking pretty good!
Methodology
Calculations rely on the latest data. Most compared November 2022 to November 2021. Avocado prices are from December. Union data are from October. Stock prices and other markets data are from Dec. 21, compared to a year earlier. Bitcoin is measured against the U.S. dollar. The dollar value is measured against a basket of currencies using the U.S. Dollar Index.
Sources:
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