Soda Prices Are up Nearly 90%, Plus 9 Other Things That Got Ridiculously Expensive

A recent study from FinanceBuzz shows the price of cracking open a can of soda has nearly doubled since 2020, skyrocketing up to an almost 90% increase. Maybe it's healthier for us all to drink a little less carbonated candy beverages, but the price hikes don't end there.

Overall, the national inflation rate for that same period of time was 25%. It's no wonder Americans are looking for new ways to tackle high grocery costs and save money on essentials.

Take a deeper look at how everyday things that are rapidly being priced out of reach for the average American.

Soda

A simple 12-pack of brand-name soda has gone up 89% since 2020. Five years ago, the average price was approximately $5.18, but now it has increased to $9.79. Two-liter bottles haven't gone up quite so much, changing from $1.94 to $3.14 per bottle.

Fun fact: A 12-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola was only about $0.35 in 1985.

Chocolate

Data from Halloween shows prices have surged nearly 30% on chocolate prices since last year's Trick-or-Treat festivities. This is due to a combination of inflation, tariffs, and a global cocoa shortage. However, it's not just this year. Over the past five years, chocolate prices have risen by almost 78%.

Streaming services

Streaming disrupted the world of cable television, offering viewers an affordable alternative that threw commercials out the window and limited the need to keep a large physical collection of DVDs. Now, every company has its own streaming network, and prices continue to rise, often accompanied by the addition of commercials, so we've essentially looped back to the days of expensive cable packages.

Just this year alone, the average subscription price for the top 10 streaming services has gone up 12%. In fact, starting in 2022, the prices have gone up double-digit percentage points every year.

Coffee

America runs on coffee, which is somewhat surprising considering we have only one state considered a major producer of the caffeinated dried bean juice we all love: Hawaii.

The price of retail coffee has increased by 41% since September 2024, largely due to environmental complications such as droughts, as well as heavy tariffs imposed on imports. Coffee from Brazil now faces a 50% duty, while coffee from Vietnam and Indonesia faces 20% and 19%, respectively.

Travel

Between the rising cost of flying and the increasing frequency of plane crashes, fewer Americans are traveling each year. A shortage of workers from pilots to air traffic controllers means longer wait times, higher prices, and more inconvenience to travel — and that's just the transportation end.

Adding in hotels and dining out has raised the cost so high that many Americans are skipping any travel that isn't absolutely necessary. The world's two largest aircraft makers (Boeing and Airbus) have a backlog of over 14,000 undelivered planes, which is expected to keep flight prices high for the next five years.

Fast food

Fast food restaurants were successful for three key reasons: being quick, convenient, and cheap. Now, consumers are finding that really isn't the case anymore. Over the past decade, the average price of fast food at a chain restaurant has increased by 60%.

Many consumers are switching to local and independent restaurants, where, for roughly the same price and wait time, one can get a proper meal with leftovers for later.

Eggs

There are an estimated 33 billion chickens on the planet at any given time, which far surpasses humanity's estimated 8.2 billion, so why are egg prices so high?

Greed and bird flu sum it up. In 2023, several egg suppliers were convicted of conspiring to raise prices, and avian influenza has led to a mass culling of farmed birds this past fall, with a total loss of over seven million. This past year has seen average egg prices jump up 37.5%.

Beef

Americans love our beef, but continually increasing prices have many reducing the amount of red meat on the grocery list each week. According to rancher Don Coover from Kansas, some of the reasons why the prices keep going up include drought, high input costs, aging producers, high cost of land, equipment, and labor. Ground beef prices are up 11% from just one year ago.

Laundry detergent

The price of having clean clothes has increased so much that laundry detergent is now kept behind a locked counter at many retailers. It's concerning to see such a basic necessity continue to rise in price, so manufacturers are resorting to every trick in the book to conceal the rapid price increases.

Tide, a leading brand, has also employed shrinkflation, resulting in a reduction in product quantity alongside rising prices.

Health insurance

As next year's health insurance rates are going up, Americans are getting whiplash from doing a double-take at the price. The increase in range can be hundreds more per month, and projections suggest that millions of Americans may have to drop their health coverage entirely due to the price increase.

This crisis will be multiplied exponentially if the Affordable Care Act tax credits are allowed to expire, which is the focus of the current government shutdown.

Bottom line

The cost of living is rising sharply, in contrast to wages for the average worker, and families are scrutinizing their budgets to ensure they avoid money-wasting habits that could impact their ability to afford necessities as prices continue to rise.

Stripping everything that isn't strictly necessary from a budget might help people get by. Still, the inability to have any extras in a budget takes a huge toll on mental health and has Americans stressed about day-to-day life when everything is too expensive.

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