How much is inflation impacting those in Utah on a lower income?

SALT LAKE CITY — New inflation numbers from the Joint Economic Committee, lead by Sen. Mike Lee, shows inflation in Utah is up 15.4% compared to January 2021. 

DNBA Personal financial planner Gerika Espinosa said she’s seeing inflation have a bigger impact on lower income families. 

“The majority of their budget is spent on gas, food and shelter. Which are the main components of the inflation numbers,” Espinosa said. 

Gas prices have gone down slightly in the last month.

Inflation in Utah

But food prices increased 10 percent in the last year, according to the latest government data. 

“The biggest thing that we’re concerned about is people getting into debt or putting it on a credit card thinking ‘oh, it’ll get better next month,'” Espinosa said.  “And while things will get better, we don’t think it’s gonna improve overnight.”

President of the Utah Food Bank Ginette Bott said they are seeing a consistent need. 

“We were hopeful that when the pandemic ended and people got back to work, those numbers would dip. And that just hasn’t happened. They’re remaining very very high,” Bott said. 

Bott also said they are still getting a good amount of donations. But they could always use more volunteers. 

“Every single thing a family needs has increased,” Bott said. 

Read more:

• Utah’s senators react to passage of Inflation Reduction Act
• Utah Division of Wildlife Resources proposes hunting and fishing license fee increase to keep up with inflation

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