Interactive: fill a week of groceries with $100 and see why 2026 inflation makes it fall short.

Inflation Mart
The $100 Experiment
$100

Still fills your cart?

Same hundred dollars. Same eight items. 2026 against 2025.

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Shopping List
One week · Eight items
Wallet $100.00
Tap items into your cart
Prices: BLS April 2026 CPI and AAA gas average. California gas runs higher (≈$6.15/gal).
Fill the cart to unlock the why
01The numbers

Your money got smaller

April 2026 brought the fastest price rise in three years.

0%
Inflation
0%
Gas
0%
Beef
0%
Coffee

Year-over-year change. BLS April 2026 CPI; gas from AAA pump average.

02The squeeze

Pay lost the race

Prices+3.8%
Wages+3.6%

Prices outran wages, so real income fell — the first drop in three years.

03The root

One strait, your gas bill

1
War begins
Feb 28 — conflict rattles oil markets.
2
Hormuz blocked
Roughly a fifth of the world's oil ships through it.
3
Ports choke
Both sides clash at sea and oil flow stalls.
4
Oil hits everything
Trucks, freight, flights and groceries all cost more.
5
The cart won't fill
Energy alone drove 40% of April's price spike.
Plot twist
−39%
Eggs got cheaper

Bird-flu flocks recovered and supply bounced back — the one item on the list that actually fell. Not everything in the news is going up.

That's
inflation.
Same $100 · One year apart