Remember How Your Parents Said Everthing Is Getting More Expensive And Worse-They Were Right

Don Hilborn
Mar 10
4 min read

Everything We Need Is Getting More Expensive

The price data show that housing rose the most, followed by healthcare, food at home, and then college tuition and fees. Based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI data compiled into annual inflation series, shelter rose about 48.1%, medical care about 29.5%, food at home about 28.0%, and college tuition and fees about 23.4% from 2014 to 2024.[1][2][3][4][5]

Housing

For housing, the best trustworthy proxy is affordability satisfaction, not a classic customer-satisfaction index. Gallup reported that in 2024 only a 43% median across OECD countries were satisfied with the availability of “good, affordable housing,” and the United States was among the countries with the lowest 2024 satisfaction relative to its long-term average. In a separate 2024 Gallup U.S. housing-market survey, only 21% of Americans said it was a good time to buy a house, while 76% said it was a bad time.[6][7]

Healthcare

For healthcare, Gallup and West Health reported in 2025 that only 16% of Americans were satisfied with the cost of healthcare in the U.S., although 57% said they were satisfied with their own healthcare costs. That gap suggests broad dissatisfaction with system-level price/value even when personal experiences vary.[8]

Food

For food, the best current proxy is the American Customer Satisfaction Index for supermarkets. ACSI reported an overall supermarket customer satisfaction score of 79 in its 2025 study, based on surveys collected through 2024. The same study showed relatively strong ratings on quality/freshness of meat and produce (83) and weaker ratings on frequency of promotions (79) and checkout speed (78), which together give a reasonable quality-and-value picture relative to price.[9]

Higher education

For higher education, Gallup found in 2023 that 71% of currently enrolled bachelor’s degree students agreed that the degree they were receiving was worth the cost, while only 8% disagreed. A later Lumina–Gallup update reported in 2025 that 90% of currently enrolled students said college was worth the investment, though that measure is not identical to the 2023 item and should not be treated as a strict trend comparison.[10][11]

Bottom line

Over the last full decade of annual U.S. data, housing costs rose far faster than the other three categories, with shelter up about 48% from 2014 to 2024.[1] Healthcare and food each rose about 30%, while college tuition and fees rose about 23% on the CPI measure.[2][3][4] On the value/satisfaction side, the most defensible reading is that housing affordability sentiment is weak, Americans are highly dissatisfied with national healthcare costs, supermarket satisfaction is decent but not outstanding, and current students still report higher perceived value from college than the public often assumes.[6][7][8][9][10][11]

Using the same idea as your earlier cost analysis, the best reliable dataset for customer satisfaction with goods and services relative to price in the United States is the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The ACSI is widely used in economics and policy research and measures perceived quality and value relative to price for goods and services across roughly 400 companies and 40 industries, based on surveys of about 200,000 consumers annually.

Below is a 10-year view (2014–2024) showing how overall customer satisfaction changed while prices for many essential goods increased.

Key takeaway:

Overall satisfaction has remained mostly flat for a decade, fluctuating around 75–78 out of 100.
Despite significant price increases in housing, healthcare, and food, customer satisfaction has not improved materially since about 2017.

Sector Examples: Satisfaction vs Price Perception

The ACSI also reports industry-level satisfaction scores, which help illustrate perceived value relative to price.

Food / Groceries

Supermarket satisfaction score: 79 / 100.
Higher scores correlate strongly with perceived product quality and value, especially fresh food and store brands.

Restaurants

Leading quick-service restaurant satisfaction score: 83 / 100 for top performers such as Chick-fil-A.

Travel & Services

Online travel agencies average around 77 / 100.

Overall Economy

The national ACSI score in 2025 was about 77, reflecting slight declines driven partly by price increases and inconsistent service quality

In economic terms:

Costs increased significantly, especially for essential services.

Customer satisfaction did not increase proportionally, suggesting declining perceived value relative to price in several sectors.

This phenomenon is sometimes described by economists as a “quality-of-output gap”—where GDP and prices rise faster than perceived value or satisfaction.

Key Insight

The data supports a pattern you were exploring earlier:

Costs ↑ while satisfaction remains flat or declines in some sectors.

This does not necessarily mean quality is falling everywhere, but it indicates that consumers do not perceive improvements proportional to price increases.

Sources

[1] OfficialData.org, Shelter price inflation, 1952→2026, using raw CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2014 value 250.47 and 2024 value 370.89.

[2] OfficialData.org, Medical care price inflation, 2007→2025, using raw CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2014 equivalent value 1,239.96 and 2024 value 1,606.14.

[3] OfficialData.org, Food at home price inflation, 2014→2024, using raw CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; prices were 28.01% higher in 2024 than 2014.

[4] OfficialData.org, College tuition and fees price inflation, 2010→2025, using raw CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2014 equivalent value 23,801.61 and 2024 value 29,373.63.

[5] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Measuring Price Change in the CPI: College tuition and fixed fees (2026 factsheet confirming that college tuition and fees are a published CPI component).[5]

[6] Gallup, Housing Affordability Crisis Hits Wealthy Economies (Apr. 29, 2025).

[7] Gallup, Americans Expect Home Prices to Rise, See Market as Poor (May 9, 2024).

[8] Gallup & West Health, Cost Leads Americans’ Top-of-Mind Healthcare Concerns (Dec. 15, 2025).

[9] American Customer Satisfaction Index, Retail and Consumer Shipping Study 2025 and Supermarkets industry page.

[10] Gallup, Current College Students Say Their Degree Is Worth the Cost (June 1, 2023).

[11] Lumina Foundation & Gallup, Majority of U.S. Adults Without a Degree Say College Pays Off Within Five Years (Mar. 24, 2025).

[12] American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), national press release and methodology explaining the index and its measurement of product and service quality relative to price. https://theacsi.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/2025/05/13/press-release-national-acsi-q1-2025/

[13] American Customer Satisfaction Index national results and historical time series of U.S. satisfaction scores (2014–2025). https://theacsi.org/the-acsi-difference/us-overall-customer-satisfaction/

[14] American Customer Satisfaction Index Retail & Consumer Shipping Study showing supermarket satisfaction scores. https://theacsi.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/2025/01/28/press-release-retail-and-consumer-shipping-study-2025/

[16] American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Study showing satisfaction scores for travel services. https://theacsi.org/news-and-resources/press-releases/2024/04/23/press-release-travel-study-2023-2024/

[17] News reporting summarizing ACSI restaurant satisfaction rankings.https://www.southernliving.com/chick-fil-a-top-customer-satisfaction-11759480