Tater tots, beer and ice cream: Tracking inflation in Richmond

We know Richmond has been getting more expensive. But how much more expensive?

What's happening: To find out how inflation is impacting the city, we decided to create our own local index pegged to familiar items around town, including ice cream at Bev's, eggs from Birdhouse Farmers Market and a pint at Hardywood.

What we found: Prices of the things we love are up almost 20% since last year.

• And it's a big jump over a short period of time. The same six items we analyzed had only increased in price by 10% over the prior five years, we found.

Zoom in:

• An order of fried pork chops at Mama J's saw the biggest price hike of any item we looked at, going from $12 in 2021 to $16 this year — a reflection of rising pork and labor prices.
• General admission tickets to the Richmond Flying Squirrels went up 25% this year to $10, the team's first price hike in almost a decade.
• The infamous bucket of tater tots from Sticky Rice saw a more modest 11% price increase from $9 to $10. (How did a sushi place become known for tots?)
• And the year-over-year cost of a scoop of ice cream held steady at Bev's at $4.49, but had been steadily increasing in years prior, making it more or less a wash when considering long-term trends.

Context: Nationally, inflation is up 8.6% from a year ago — a 40-year high.

• That puts the U.S. near the middle of the pack across 111 countries recently studied by Deutsche Bank.

Be smart: Some things are actually getting cheaper, Axios' Erica Pandey writes, including smartphones, TVs and clothing.

Where are you noticing the biggest price increases in Richmond? Email us: [email protected].