Going out is not only less common these days, it’s also a lot more expensive.
In general, the prices that consumers pay for goods and services recently notched their largest year-over-year jump since 1982.
Gas prices, alone, are up a whopping 58.1% over the past year, and that’s just to get to where you are going.
A table for two isn’t what it used to be, either. Restaurants, which have been under pressure since the very start of the pandemic, are charging more for meals to combat ongoing staffing challenges and higher food costs.
Most have had to raise wages to attract workers on top of paying more for ingredients and that means menu prices look a little different now.
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Overall, the cost of eating out rose 6% over the last year, also the highest jump since 1982, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (although the cost of eating at home rose even faster).
A trip to the movies still costs roughly the same as it did before the Covid pandemic, according to the National Association of Theatre Owners. At just under $10 a person, it may also be the best deal around.
The cost to attend nearly any other event, on the other hand, is on the rise.
In 2019, to see an artist in concert would set you back roughly $96, on average, but this year’s ticket prices are on track to set a record high when Billie Eilish, Coldplay, Justin Bieber, John Mayer and the Weeknd hit the road.
If sports are more your thing, NBA and NHL tickets cost about $94 a seat, on average, according to SeatGeek data, while the average ticket for an NFL match up, not including playoff games, costs even more — roughly $151, SeatGeek found. If you can score one at all.
In the secondary market, where many of these tickets are bought and sold, the average resale price per ticket jumped roughly 28% for sporting events and about 45% for concerts since the start of the pandemic.
The average resale price of an NFL ticket, for example, rose to $237 from $198.
For art-goers, it’s a similar story.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which houses one of the world’s largest collections, used to have a “suggested donation” for entrants, which is now limited to only New York State residents and students from the tri-state area. All other visitors must pay $25 for a general admission ticket.
Other museums, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California, raised ticket prices by at least 50%, according to a report by coupon and deal site DealA, which compared the price of an adult general admission ticket as of last month to prices in 2017.
Ticket prices to other attractions also hard hit by Covid restrictions have shot up by much more — as much as twice what they were pre-pandemic, DealA found.
Going to the Funland amusement park in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, for instance, now costs $30, up from $15 just a few years ago. Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Sesame Place in Bucks County, Pennsylvania; and Santa’s Village, New Hampshire’s Christmas theme park, hiked admission prices 22%, 29% and 50%, respectively, over the same time.