Where U.S. Inflation Hit the Hardest (March 2024)
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The latest U.S. inflation figures were released in early April, revealing that the consumer price index (CPI) had risen by 3.5% in March 2024, on an annual basis. This is unfortunately higher than the 3.2% logged in February, showing once again how stubborn inflation has been post-pandemic.
To add context to these figures, we’ve visualized CPI categories that became significantly more expensive from March 2023 to March 2024. All figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which regularly posts CPI figures.
Data and Highlights
The data we used to create this graphic is listed in the table below.
| Item | YoY Change (%) |
|---|---|
| 📀 Video discs + other media | 30.1 |
| 🥤 Juice + drinks | 27.5 |
| 🚗 Motor vehicle insurance | 22.2 |
| 🔧 Repair of household items | 18 |
| 🏠 Home care of invalids + elderly | 14.2 |
| 🚗 Motor vehicle repair | 11.6 |
| 🥩 Beef roasts | 11.2 |
| 👶 Baby food + formula | 9.9 |
| 🐾 Veterinarian services | 9.6 |
| ⚖️ Legal services | 8.8 |
| 🏥 Outpatient hospital services | 8.3 |
| 📊 All items average | 3.5 |
Prices of “video discs and other media” rose by a substantial 30.1% year-over-year as of March 2024, highlighting rising demand for physical media such as vinyl records.
According to an article from The Guardian, U.S. vinyl sales rose 21.7% in the first half of 2023, driven by artists like Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey, and Fleetwood Mac. Swift’s latest album, Midnights, sold nearly 500,000 vinyl copies throughout the entire year.
Another category that rose significantly was “juice and drinks”, at 27.5%. This rise in cost has been attributed to numerous factors including sugar shortages, increased transportation costs, and diseases affecting orange trees in Florida.
See more graphics on inflation
If you enjoyed this post, check out this graphic on inflation rates across the G20. For each country, we compared inflation rates in February 2024 to their COVID-19 peak.
