Prices Of These 9 Foods Have Gone Up The Most in California & Idaho

If there’s one thing that almost every Idahoan, Californian and other folks living in the west can agree on, it’s that just existing has become considerably more expensive over the past 10 years. 

You’ve stumbled across an article written in Boise, Idaho so we’ll use our city as an example. At the beginning of 2024, U.S. News & World Report updated their list of the “Most Overvalued Housing Markets in the U.S.” In their breakdown, Boise still ranked #12 of 20. According to Realtor.com, the median listing price for a home in the Boise area in May 2024 was $599,900. While we keep hoping the market will get better, that’s still up 1.9% from a year ago.

NEXT: One of the Cheapest Grocery Stores in America Has 13 Locations in Idaho

Apartmentlist.com reports that Boise’s rent is down 3% from this time last year, but we’re renters. We certainly didn’t see that when our lease was up in October. Our rent went up again. Among the country’s 100 biggest cities, Boise still ranks an uncomfortable #73 for the highest median rent. 

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It’s not JUST housing that’s more expensive. Some groceries are too! 

Food Inflation Slows Across the United States

The good news is that we’re not seeing prices rise as dramatically as they did in 2022 when food inflation hit an all time high or 11.4%. If you look at ALL groceries, Trading Economics believes that food inflation will drop to 1.6% this month. That’s the lowest it’s been since 2018, but their forecast does show prices starting to climb again come September. We like to be optimists, so we’ll enjoy the savings where we can, while we can!

That said, while prices have dropped for many foods like pasta, milk, cheese, bananas and potatoes, there are other foods that just keep getting more expensive. 

Which ones? We dove into the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Consumer Price Index to find out. The CPI for the West region reflects the average price of certain items across 13 states including Idaho, California, Washington, Oregon and Utah.