Edition of Oct. 26, 2026

Is Des Moines on steady ground?

Where Des Moines has no numbers of its own, we show Iowa's or the country's, and name them.

The Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metro area

Are the things I need becoming harder to afford or obtain?

This place has no numbers of its own for this.

Explain this to me more

New data comes out Oct. 27, 2026.

We don't read rent, health care or car costs yet.

Survey data: EIA's monthly survey of electric utilities.

Survey data: EIA's weekly survey of retail gasoline and diesel prices.

Survey data: BLS's Consumer Price Index (a survey of prices at stores).

The numbers we read

The U.S.

Residential electricity prices nationally: 18.16 cents per kWh in 2026-08, up 3.4% from a year earlier (17.57). August 2026
Regular gasoline nationally: $4.284 a gallon in the week of 2026-10-19, up 41.9% from a year earlier ($3.019). Week of Oct. 19, 2026
Food-at-home prices nationally in 2026-09: up 1.8% from a year earlier. September 2026

Sources and methods

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), food at home. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov. Retrieved 2026-10-15.

Answers in plain words will cover only the whole U.S. Here, we show this place's numbers.

Is my ability to earn getting stronger or weaker?

We can't measure pay or hours worked yet.
Could a change disrupt my work, home or essential services?

We can't yet tell job cuts that are planned from ones that have happened. We have no data on power or water outages.
What protects me, and where am I exposed?

We don't yet have data on how many people have savings, health cover or jobless pay.
What changed enough to deserve attention?

Its answer would say which changes this week deserve attention, and why.
How much could it matter, and when?

We can't yet say how many people a change could reach, or when.

Every number shows its date.