The consumer price index rose last month in part because...

The consumer price index rose last month in part because of the higher cost of home energy and housing, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Credit: Barry Sloan

Consumer prices on Long Island and in the metropolitan area increased last month at the same rate as they did in November, though local mall shoppers said they're still feeling squeezed. 

The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Wednesday its consumer price index for the 25-county region that includes Nassau and Suffolk counties climbed 4.3% in December compared with a year earlier. That year-over-year increase was identical to November but is the highest since March 2023.

The price index, which is a measure of inflation, rose last month in part because of the higher cost of home energy and housing, according to William J. Sibley, the bureau’s regional commissioner.

Prices for natural gas and electricity increased 15.3% and 12.8%, respectively, year over year. Residential rent was up 5.4%.

At the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, Wanda Jacobsen, 47, of Lynbrook, said she’s started keeping her home thermostat at 65 degrees to get a handle on the cost of electricity.

“My last PSEG bill was a shocker,” the administrative assistant said. “I know it’s because it’s winter, but I’m still trying to save.”

Billy Smithe, 64, said high apartment rents are keeping his son, Jimmy, 23, from moving back to Long Island from North Carolina.

“You look at the rents for the new buildings near the Long Island Rail Road stations — and [Jimmy] cannot afford that. They are way too high for someone just starting out,” said Smithe, a retired NYPD officer from North Valley Stream.

Nationwide, consumer prices were up 2.9% in December compared with a year earlier. The rate of increase was a bit faster than November’s 2.7%, the bureau announced.

Metro area prices grew at a faster rate in part because of “Long Island’s high housing, motor vehicle and energy costs, which are keeping inflation at an elevated rate relative to national figures,” said John A. Rizzo, an economist and Stony Brook University professor. 

He said the national data is having “a positive effect on the stock market but should have little effect on Fed interest-rate policy because the change is so small, and it is not a trend.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared after the national price index was released Wednesday morning. The Dow closed up 703 points, or more than 1%, to 43,221.

Wednesday's price-index announcements are the final ones before President-elect Donald Trump takes the oath of office on Monday. His campaign benefited from voters' anxiety and frustration about the rising cost of household staples compared with the period before the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak, which ushered in a period of high inflation.

Economists predicted the second Trump presidency would enact higher tariffs, or import taxes, that in turn would cause consumer prices to rise.

“We continue to expect that the incoming administration will implement sizable tariffs and other changes which will send inflation higher" this year and in 2026, said economists Andy Schneider and Britney Jackson of BNP Paribas Securities Corp. in a note to investors. “As a result, we continue to expect unchanged monetary policy over the course of this year” in terms changes to interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

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