How Climate Change is Making Your Life More Expensive
Simmone Shah
Jun 11, 2026 10:58 AM ET
If you feel like things have been getting more expensive, you’re not imagining it. The average American household spent $15,400 more for basic necessities in 2025 than it did in 2019, according to research from the Common Sense Institute, a non-partisan research organization. That’s across a number of spending categories. On average, grocery costs increased 25.1%, while shelter and utilities costs increased 33.9%.
There’s a number of explanations for the surge in prices—from pandemic induced supply chain issues, to tariffs, to wars in Ukraine and Iran.
Yet a significant number of Americans are also pointing to another factor: climate change. In a study released this week by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University Center for Climate Change Communication, 67% of American voters said they think global warming is affecting the cost of living in the United States, while 64% said it is affecting their own cost of living, pointing to increasing costs of home utility bills, groceries, and home insurance, among other things.
They’re not wrong. Extreme weather driven by climate change is pushing up prices for everyone. One April paper published by Brookings Papers on Economic Activity found that climate change is already costing U.S. households between $400 and $900 a year, on average.
https://time.com/article/2026/06/11/how-climate-change-is-making-your-life-more-expensive/
