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Inflation surged last month to the highest rate in more than three years, driving up the costs of everything from food to gas for Maryland families, experts said, and putting aid groups on edge.
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.5% in May, bringing inflation for the year to 4.2%, the highest level since April 2023, driven in large part by the spike in fuel prices, according to the from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In the Washington, D.C., metro area, which includes suburban Maryland and Virginia, annual inflation rose to 4.1% in May, according to the report. The most recent numbers for the Baltimore metro area are from April, when the annual inflation rate was 3.6%.
鈥淚t means [people] are paying more for everything,鈥� said Christopher Meyer, a research analyst at the Maryland Center on Economic Policy. 鈥淚t makes it harder to afford everything. They鈥檙e especially paying more gasoline for utilities, electricity, and home heating, but other things as well.鈥�
Energy costs have seen the starkest rise in prices in the past year, with the cost of gas increasing by more than 40% nationally and fuel oil, which is used for heating in homes, up by almost 60%.
According to Meyer, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the Iran war is the most significant contributor to uptick cost because it has caused disruptions in global energy markets.
While gas prices nationally and in Maryland are trending down since their peak in mid-May, the , as of Monday, was $3.83 per gallon, which is still 77 cents more than what people paid a year ago, according to AAA data.
The uptick in gas prices can also make the price of other goods higher because it costs more money to ship those items, according to Allan Drazen, a professor of economics at the University of Maryland. This includes food, which has seen a 3.1% national cost increase in the past year, according to the BLS.
鈥淲hen we look at the price of food, the price of energy matters, supply chain disruptions matter,鈥� Drazen said. 鈥淭here are a number of things that tend to have an effect.鈥�
Meg Kimmel is the president and CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, a nonprofit organization that supplies food to about 760 local food banks and pantries throughout the state for them to distribute.
While she said her larger organization has been able to absorb the higher costs of goods, higher prices in things like gas and utilities, in addition to food, have made it harder for more local pantries to afford to distribute the same quantities to their communities.
South County Assistance Network, based in Anne Arundel County, distributes food to individual families once every 30 days to help ease the load of food costs. Pat Youngman, the president of the organization鈥檚 board of directors, said she is seeing her clients need 鈥渟ignificantly鈥� more help getting food on the table.
In 2025, the organization distributed food to 371 families, she said. This year, it has taken on 47 new families.
鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely seeing more families struggle,鈥� Youngman said, 鈥淭hey comment about the price of food and how difficult it is.鈥�
Kimmel said she anticipates more people will be seeking out food assistance, often for the first time, as prices rise. As inflation continues, some families will have to make difficult choices on how to spend their money, she said.
鈥淭hat is the part that is often challenging for families,鈥� Kimmel said. 鈥淭hey find themselves needing to make those trade-offs and to make those choices and decisions they have to make. Do I pay the utility bill, or do I put food on the table? Do I pay for my kids鈥� field trip and haircut, or do I put food on the table?鈥�
The true challenge with the rise in inflation is that wages are not being adjusted for the high cost, according to Meyer. To ease the burden, he said state lawmakers can advocate for increasing the state鈥檚 minimum wage to keep up with prices and support collective bargaining.
As more people are relying on public assistance, Meyer said state lawmakers should use the state budget to invest in things like public transportation and affordable housing and childcare.
Despite this, he said, federal government actions, like ending the war in Iran and repealing cuts to things like Medicaid and federal food assistance, will likely contribute to the most significant improvements in affordability.
