Rip-off America? From car rentals to coffee, inflation is rampant
Supply problems, fuel prices and corporate greed all contributed to pushing costs higher for families and tourists — and the effect of tariffs is still to come
Illustration of a rolled-up US dollar bill with travel-related imagery, showing rising costs.
Costs of many day-to-day essentials as well as vacations and experiences have all risen
Keiran Southern
, Los Angeles
Monday July 14 2025, 7.55am BST, The Times
After stepping off the plane in Nashville, having paid far more than expected for your flight, the rental car desk awaits.
Four days with a Toyota Camry costs $670. A Starbucks coffee on the way to the hotel is another $7.
Your budget hotel somehow costs $500 for the weekend, breakfast not included. Eating out for dinner means the day’s spending is comfortably into four figures.
Welcome to America in the summer of 2025, where years of surging prices have left consumers struggling with widespread sticker shock.
Inflation, which began to rise sharply in 2021, has significantly increased the cost of just about everything. Overall, prices are about 26 per cent higher than they were before the Covid pandemic, according to the personal finance company NerdWallet.
There is a strong sense among American families and tourists that costs are becoming uncontrollable, hitting households of all income levels. The rising price of holidays, groceries and fuel are among the most visceral everyday examples of the soaring cost of living.
Here The Times breaks down how spiralling costs are putting a dent in your wallet.
Hotels
There has been a significant rise in the average US hotel and motel room rate over the past decade — an increase of 24 per cent, according to NerdWallet.
Experts say the post-pandemic urge to travel is partly to blame, with soaring demand allowing hotels to jack up prices. Hotels say higher bills for utilities have also played a part.
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The American Hotel and Lodging Association said in this year’s state of the industry report that the cost of doing business had grown rapidly. Property maintenance, sales and marketing and IT expenses rose by 5 per cent in the year ending October 2024.
In few places are price increases more noticeable than in New York, America’s most popular tourist city. In September the average price of a hotel room in Manhattan reached a record $417, according to the real estate analytics company CoStar.
In Miami Beach, the year-to-date average daily rate for a hotel room was $283.38 in September last year, far above the $230.98 rate in September 2019.
For Las Vegas, the average daily rate for a hotel room was $198.20 in May. In the same month in 2019 it was $140.52, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
But despite complaints about prices, experts said that costs were being driven up, in part, by a change in consumer habits.
Sally French, NerdWallet finance expert and co-host of the Smart Travel podcast, said: “We’re often seeing the highest demand in the luxury space. People want the best experience.
“The days of ‘I’m OK with this generic hotel’ are gone. People want the hotel that’s going to make for an amazing photo. We see people spending more on higher-end things that they wouldn’t have done in the past.”
Flights
Perhaps surprisingly, air fares are down 18.5 per cent compared with 2015, but this does not tell the full story.
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Under a process known as unbundling, airlines are charging lower fares for basic economy seats but hitting travellers with extra charges for “perks” that once came as standard, such as being able to check in a bag.
Southwest, for example, ditched its “bags fly free” policy in May and charges $35 for the first piece of luggage and $45 for the second.
These fees, which can substantially add to the cost of a journey, are not captured in NerdWallet’s data.
Rental cars
Rental car prices made headlines early in the pandemic after surging due to tourists being more willing to drive rather than fly for summer holidays.
Rental rates have since flattened and there was a below-inflation rise over the past 12 months. But the ten-year picture tells a grimmer story. Since May 2015 the price of renting a car has jumped 29 per cent.
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Illustration of a place setting.
Eating out
The price of dining out in America has risen significantly in only a year. Costs were up 3.9 per cent in May compared with the same month in 2024. In all, prices increased by 49.3 per cent over the past decade.
Fast food prices shot up due to supply chain issues and inflation. Chains had to pay more for energy and staff, while the cost of food also rose.
The price of eggs became a totemic election issue, a vivid demonstration of the impact of inflation on shoppers. Earlier this year, a spike in bird flu sent prices even higher.
The average cost of a dozen “grade A” large eggs reached $6.23 in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). During the surge, the Waffle House fast food chain added a $0.50 surcharge for each egg.
President Trump took credit for prices dropping — they dipped to $4.55 in May, the BLS said — and celebrated the end of Waffle House’s surcharge this month.
In response to complaints about the price of takeaway food, chains including McDonald’s and Wendy’s last year began offering value meals to attract budget-conscious customers.
Concert tickets.
Concerts
As anyone who forked out for Taylor Swift or Beyoncé tickets in recent years will attest, prices for concerts, theatres and cinemas have risen faster than inflation.
The cost was up 4.7 per cent over the past year, according to NerdWallet. Since 2015 prices have jumped by 39 per cent.
After an unprecedented scramble for tickets to Swift’s Eras tour, fans sued Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for alleged price gouging.
Taylor Swift performing on stage.
Dynamic pricing used by Ticketmaster meant that high demand for Taylor Swift tickets sent prices soaring
ANDRE DIAS NOBRE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
They said that Ticketmaster abused its position as the dominant force in the US market to impose higher prices on the presale, sale and resale markets. Ticketmaster denied any wrongdoing and the case is pending.
Last May the US justice department sued Live Nation for alleged antitrust violations. Merrick Garland, the attorney-general at the time, said “it is time to break up” the company.
Fans have become accustomed to paying hundreds of dollars to see their favourite artists.
• Why are gig tickets so expensive — and is Live Nation to blame?
Lady Gaga’s The Mayhem Ball tour starts this week. Tickets for the opening night in Las Vegas start at $215, rising steeply for better seats. The prices are similar for her concerts in San Francisco, Seattle and New York.
Dolly Parton will perform six times at the Colosseum in Las Vegas in December and tickets sold out immediately in June. Fans are struggling to find tickets for less than $1,600 on resale sites.
French said the sharp rise in ticket prices was due in part to the willingness of fans to pay. “There’s been a broader push for people valuing experiences over things,” she said, adding that after the pandemic there was pent-up demand for in-person events.
Illustration of theatrical masks and a US flag.
Broadway theatre
As with concerts, theatre has become increasingly out of reach for the middle classes.
The most recent season was the priciest on record, with theatregoers paying an average of $129.12 for a ticket. The figure for the 2018-19 season was $122.73.
Fans hoping to see the most popular shows typically have to fork out far more than $130 per seat. Tickets for Othello, which featured the Hollywood stars Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, cost almost $1,000.
Wicked opened on Broadway in 2003 but still regularly sells more than $1 million worth of tickets in a week. A family of four hoping to see a Saturday night showing with decent seats at the Gershwin Theater would be charged $1,190 including fees. An individual ticket costs $297.50.
Such prices are possible because of how wealthy many Broadway audiences are. The average annual household income for a regular theatregoer is $276,000, according to the Broadway League demographics report.
Mickey Mouse pointing toward a Disney World sign.
Resorts
Visitor numbers to Las Vegas are down every month this year, amid widespread complaints that the Strip has become too expensive.
Resort fees and parking charges draw frequent criticism, while the cost of food and drink in Sin City often leaves a bad taste in tourists’ mouths.
Walt Disney wanted his theme parks to be accessible to everyone but even the company’s biggest fans would struggle to argue today’s prices are inclusive.
Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
The “happiest place on Earth” is out of reach for many family budgets
AARONP/BAUER-GRIFFIN/GC IMAGES
Tickets for Disneyland in Anaheim, California can cost as much as $206 on the busiest days. Add-ons allowing visitors to skip the lines further increase the cost, then there is parking, food and merchandise, the prices of which regularly attract criticism on social media.
For a family of four with two young children, a four-day visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando including a stay at a Disney-owned hotel cost $4,266 last year, according to The Wall Street Journal.
That is up from $3,230 five years earlier, adjusted for inflation.
Grocery basket full of food next to an empty basket.
Groceries
The average American family is likely to have noticed a sharp rise in the cost of everyday essentials.
Four years ago baby wipes cost $4.99 but today the average price is $6.63, according to consumer analytics company NielsenIQ. Bleach was $3.52 and is now $4.90.
The average unit price of dog food was $5.78 in 2021, but last month the figure was $8.42.
Lindsay Owens, executive director of the Washington think tank Groundwork Collaborative, said inflation was not entirely to blame and that corporations were exploiting the situation for profit — a process known as price gouging.
“They decided to see if they could pass along all of their rising costs so that their margins wouldn’t be eaten into,” she said. “And when they realised that they could, they decided to go for more, and so they started passing along a little more than they needed to.”
Illustration of Donald Trump's face with a tattered American flag.
What happens next?
Americans hoping for a respite from rising prices might be in for disappointment. Trump’s tariffs will lead to more increases, at least in the short term, economists said.
And while inflation has dropped significantly from its 9 per cent peak in the summer of 2022, consumers will be living with the consequences for years. As history tells us, inflation may go down — but prices don’t.
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