The inflation rate in the Bay Area is showing signs of easing — finally — after a years-long bout of elevated prices that squeezed the wallets and spending power of consumers in the region, a new report shows.
Bay Area consumer prices rose at a relatively sedate pace of 2.7% in August on an annual basis, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday.
That was significantly reduced from the yearly inflation rate of 3.8% in April and 3.2% in June. The August rate was the lowest since February when consumer prices rose by 2.4%. The federal agency releases a Bay Area consumer price index every other month.
Nationwide, consumer prices rose 2.5% in August on a yearly basis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported.
In the Bay Area, the spikes in consumer p[rices began to surface in December 2021. The increases finally began to abate this year.
Utility costs for electricity and gas services in the Bay Area such as those produced by PG&E offered a mixed bag for consumers, the federal agency reported.
Electricity utility prices rose 9.2% in August, the same increase that was reported in July. That was a big reduction from the average increase of 26.6% for electricity costs reported for the first six months of this year.
Costs for gas piped into the home, however, soared 28.5% in July and 31.8% in August, which was far higher than the average increase of 6.2% for gas utility services during the first half of 2024.
The report shows that electricity utility prices are rising three times faster than the overall inflation rate in the Bay Area, while gas utility costs rose more than 11 times faster than general consumer prices in the region.
Food prices rose just 1.6% in August, the federal labor agency reported. But sharp contrasts were apparent in the cost of food prepared at home and food prepared away from home.
Food at home prices fell 0.4% in August. However, the price of food consumed away from home hopped higher by 4.7%.
