02/17/2026
The headlines say inflation is cooling. Most Americans aren't buying it.
Here's what the data actually shows right now:
🛒 Groceries: The Chicago Sun-Times tracked 35 common items at Jewel-Osco for 13 months. The verdict? A cart that cost $263 in January 2025 now costs $285. What went up mostly didn't come down.
💼 Jobs: The market is "frozen." ADP reported just 6,500 jobs created last week. Unemployment hit 4.4% in September — the highest since 2021. Job seekers are competing against 250+ applicants for a single role.
🏠 Housing: Existing home sales dropped 8.4% in January, per NAR. NAR's chief economist is calling it "a new housing crisis." Americans are stuck.
😰 Financial stress: 88% of Americans entered 2026 feeling some form of financial stress, according to new NEFE data. 77% experienced a financial setback in 2025. Nearly 40% say they couldn't handle an unexpected $2,000 expense.
And consumer confidence? It just hit its lowest point since 2014 — lower than the depths of the pandemic.
The gap between what economists measure and what people actually feel has never been wider.
The question is: what do we do about it?
I wrote about all of this — including my own shrinkflation story with Fage yogurt at Costco — in this week's Love, Money + Real Estate newsletter. Link in comments.
What are YOU seeing out there? Drop a comment below. 👇
CCostco NNational Association of REALTORS®
Shinkflation at the Grocery Store Means Paying More for Less
