Paying Up

The cost of living keeps rising, and it’s got Bergenites feeling down.

“It’s death by a thousand paper cuts.”

Kaan Esendemir is enumerating the ways in which the rising cost of living has affected his life, and it’s a long list. The Cliffside Park resident, who owns the home that he shares with his parents, starts with his homeowner’s insurance, which recently rose from $1,100 a year to around $1,500. Then there’s his utility bill ($326 in August 2025 and $494 in August 2026) and his automobile insurance ($2,365 in October 2025 and $2,410 in March 2026) and the upwardly spiraling costs of food, auto and home repairs, and leasing the car he needs to get to his jobs as an application architect at United Parcel Service and an adjunct instructor teaching computer science at several universities. So many of those costs, he says, seem to be beyond his control.

Bergen County has never been a cheap place to live. In fact, according to the financial website 24/7 Wall St., it’s the costliest county in New Jersey (which happens to be the fourth most expensive state in the U.S.). Though the inflation rate in the Garden State actually dropped over the 12 months ending in June 2026 (from 4.2 percent to 3.53 percent), it’s still well above the Federal Reserve’s goal of 2 percent, and many analysts are saying it could rise again. And bear in mind that a drop in the rate of inflation doesn’t mean that prices have declined or even stopped going up; they’re still climbing, only a little less steeply.

Inflation in Bergen is reflected most dramatically in the price of gas and food, according to Zach Thomas, an adjunct professor of economics at Bergen Community College. The price of gas, for instance, rose 33.8 percent over the year ending in June 2026, and energy prices overall (which include gas, electricity and other energy-related costs) increased by 16.2 percent during the same period—which helps to explain that sense of vertigo you feel when you open your PSE&G bill. Blame it on the rising price of fuel as well as a mounting demand for electricity by data centers, six of which are located in Bergen.

And then there’s food. Between late 2024 and June 2026, Thomas notes, “the median household grocery bill in Bergen went up from something like $1,300 a month for a family of four to $1,600.” According to the financial site NerdWallet, that’s the result of an unholy host of factors, including rising production costs, supply-chain disruptions and tariffs. Extreme weather across much of the country also seems to be playing a role. The rising price of gas, says Thomas, is largely a reflection of the war in Iran (which, as of this writing, is still ongoing) and the fact that, to prevent gas shortages in the U.S., the nation has dipped into its national petroleum reserves.

PEOPLE ARE CUTTING BACK

While Bergen’s wealthiest residents may be absorbing the jump in food and fuel costs, they, like so many others in the county, are likely feeling the pinch when it comes to housing, says Thomas. The real estate website Zillow reports that, over the year ending in June 2026, home prices in Bergen rose 5.8 percent. That $2 million dollar home you were eyeing last summer? Assuming it’s still on the market, you’d have to pay an additional $116,000 for it today.

When prices rise sharply, people generally react by changing their behavior, in ways large and small that can affect the economy at large. Last year, for instance, Esendemir leased an electric car in response to escalating gas prices. But, feeling the pain of inflation in other areas of his life, he’s planning to buy a less expensive car when the lease runs out. “I realized,” he says, “that the money I’m spending on the monthly lease is money I could be investing.”

Edgewater resident John Cuttito, who used to go out to dinner twice a week, now eats out once a week. And that seemingly innocuous cutback helps to explain why, as Thomas observes, “the data is supporting the fact that people are eating at home much more frequently.” While some super-hot restaurants are booming, he notes, other eateries are struggling. “When there’s a downturn in the economy,” he says, “people start feeling the need to tighten the belt, by restricting trips to Starbucks or the Korean barbecue place.” Gail Schoenberg, a publicist who represents restaurants in Bergen and elsewhere in North Jersey, notes that many mid-price restaurants are absorbing the rising costs of food (most notably meat), rather than raising their prices. “They have to be sensitive to the demographic in their area and keep their particular clientele in mind,” she says.

Businesses in Bergen beyond the restaurant sector seem to be feeling the effects of those newly cinched waistlines as well. Ron Lieberman, the owner of Palisade Jewelers in Englewood, for instance, notes that while some of his wealthiest customers appear to be “immune” to the rising cost of living, others are clearly cutting back on jewelry purchases. He’s not selling as many preowned luxury watches, for instance—traditionally, a hot market; instead, he says, more and more people are bringing in their old Rolexes and Patek Philippes for repair.

But another trend appears to be helping Lieberman’s business, and it’s also an economic indicator: An increasing number of customers, he says, are coming in to sell their old gold jewelry, as the price of gold rises along with the price of coffee and ground beef.

THE SQUEEZE ON BERGEN BUSINESS

You might expect non-necessities like jewelry to be affected by inflationary pressures, but those pressures seem to be influencing businesses offering necessities as well, and not just supermarkets. Arline Schwecter, for instance, owns Longevity, a shop in Englewood that sells durable medical equipment such as hospital beds, walkers and pre- and postsurgical supplies like compression garments, and while she accepts medical insurance for some of those purchases, for many of them she doesn’t. Lately, she says, “people don’t seem to want to spend a penny more than they have to.” More and more potential customers, she adds, “walk out” when they learn that for the item they seek “I don’t take insurance.”

Many businesses are being squeezed at both ends. While customers are cutting back, the price of doing business is rising. In a survey by the New York Federal Reserve’s website Liberty Street Economics, for instance, New Jersey business owners reported an 8.5 percent rise in utility costs. And in a New Jersey Business & Industry Association (NJBIA) survey, owners noted a 48 percent rise in the cost of labor, with soaring health-insurance costs contributing significantly to the uptick.

Bergen’s property taxes also reflect those escalating utility and labor costs. According to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, property taxes went up in the majority of Bergen County towns in 2025. In fact, in some municipalities, such as Demarest and Tenafly, taxpayers had to shell out in excess of $1,000 more last year than the year before. Of course, property taxes in Bergen have generally risen over time. But as inflation in other areas of the market makes life here less affordable, the hit from property tax hikes is even more painful than usual.

Should property taxes therefore be slashed? Counterintuitive as it seems, Thomas warns, such cuts could actually make inflation worse in the long run. “We have to remember that taxes are meant to offset cost-of-living burdens,” he says, contending that if the government cuts services, those services will likely be picked up by the private sector and in many cases offered at a higher cost.

One way, of course, to escape Bergen’s inflationary pressures is to escape Bergen itself, moving to a place that, while it also may be plagued by inflation, offers a significantly lower cost of living to begin with. Lots of folks do leave the county—some 3,500 every year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But a significant number of them return, apparently because, when it comes to our county, there’s no place like home.

Esendemir, a transplant from Hudson County, has indeed thought about leaving Bergen, but he loves his friendly neighbors and the sense of safety he feels here. “Could I sell my house here, take the equity, and move to Texas, where I could buy a house outright and probably live a more comfortable life?” he asks. “Sure. But would I enjoy that life? Probably not.” Even while bearing the burden of rising costs, plenty of us, it seems, would agree.

GETTING EVEN

In the face of continuing inflation, here, from economist Zach Thomas, are steps you can take to reduce its sting:

Move any excess cash to a high-yield savings account. “It’s definitely a good strategy,” says Thomas, “but it won’t completely eliminate the reduction in purchasing power brought by inflation. That being said, it’s a much better option than stuffing cash under a mattress or its equivalent: a normal checking account.”

Buy in bulk—but make sure you’re actually saving money. Sometimes, per item, bulk purchases can cost you more than single-item purchases. “If you can prioritize things that you expect will rise in price,” Thomas advises, “then this can get you ahead of inflation. The risk is that you’ll have to speculate which goods will rise more than others—and you could be wrong.”

Negotiate. Not all companies are willing to negotiate prices, monthly fees and/or interest rates, but you’d be surprised at how many will.

Cull your digital subscriptions. “They’re a huge drain on accounts these days,” Thomas observes. “I always advocate to my students and others that they can (and will) be better off with fewer of these. What makes this strategy effective is that it really is a low-effort thing to do with immediate cash flow results.”

Travel in the off season. You’ll not only save money but also reap rewards in the form of fewer crowds and, sometimes, better weather.

Take whims out of the decision process. “A lot of online shopping is designed to take advantage of impulses in the consumer population,” says Thomas. “Before you click ‘Buy,’ put a nonessential item in your digital cart and then wait 48 to 72 hours before actually purchasing it. Consider removing credit cards and digital wallets so that any transaction has an additional layer of activity. The need to input card numbers for every transaction gives more time for consideration and to talk yourself out of a willy-nilly purchase.” And it’s a great way to head off buyer’s remorse.