Category	Expense	Cost in 2000	Cost in 2011	Percent Increase, 2000-2011
Housing	Ownership costs	N/A	N/A	32%
	Apartment rental	N/A	N/A	39%
	Homeowner's insurance (annual)	$508.00	$969.00	91%
	Real estate tax (annual)	$690.00	$1,275.96	85%
	Heating oil (gallon)	$1.15	$3.34	190%
	Natural gas (gallon)	$1.01	$2.74	171%
	Electricity (per kw hr)	$.08	$.12	50%
Transportation	Gas, all grades (gallon)	$1.53	$3.53	131%
	New & used vehicles	N/A	N/A	(-4%)
	Oil change	$23.11	$49.68	115%
	Maintenance/ repair	N/A	N/A	44%
Medical	Total out-of-pocket medical expenses	$1,074.50	$1,526.18	42%
	Prescription drugs, generic, brand, special	$623.70	$708.07	14%
	Dental, general visits	$377.40	$528.61	40%
	Medicare Part B premiums (monthly)	$45.50	$115.40	154%
	Medicare Part D premiums	$25.93	$40.72	57% (since 2006)
Food	10 lbs. potatoes	$2.98	$5.98	101%
	1 lb. butter	$2.52	$3.42	36%
	Milk (gallon)	$2.78	$3.30	19%
	Eggs (dozen)	$0.93	$1.81	95%
	Ground chuck (lb.)	$1.90	$2.99	57%
	Bread, white loaf	$.91	$1.40	54%
	1 lb. coffee	$3.54	$4.42	25%
	Oranges (lb.)	$.61	$1.05	72%
Recreation	Recreation, misc.	N/A	N/A	10%
Communication	First class postage	$.33	$.44	33%
	Basic phone service, local	$55.37	$68.41	24%
Apparel	Clothing	N/A	N/A	(-8%)
Other	Personal care products	N/A	N/A	5%
	Personal care services	N/A	N/A	32%

Instant Insights /

Seniors lost 32 percent of their buying power since 2000