How Has Inflation Hit Your Finances? 10 People Get Candid

The most recent index of consumer prices showed the annual inflation rate slowed slightly in April, to 3.4%. But inflation was routinely below 2% in the years before the pandemic—and anyway, what matters to people is the price of things, not the level of price changes.

“They do care, and they’ve always cared,” said James Hines, an economist at the University of Michigan.

We trod through the streets in San Francisco to ask people how much they make, whether it feels like enough and their plans for the future. Their answers have been edited for clarity and length. Income is monthly, after taxes. 

Varun Valluri

Age: 33

Occupation: Solutions engineering

Income: $5,000 before he was laid off, then received 14 weeks of severance

Rent: $2,500

I got laid off about four months ago. I have seriously cut down my external dining and expenses. I moved from a one-bedroom to a studio. I was paying $4,000 in rent.

I used to have an EV but I switched to a gas car. I figured I’d try to cut down on my burn rate and get a cheaper car, but the gas is just so expensive. 

When I lived in New York, I used to joke that you step outside your house and you spend $50. Now in San Francisco, you go out for drinks and it’s $100. You go out for dinner and it’s another $100. 

Ken Mandler

Age: 69

Occupation: Small-business owner, employment agency

Income: $20,000

Rent: $2,800

I read about inflation all the time. But who the hell cares? 3% inflation? We’ve seen 15% inflation in the late ’70s, early ‘80s. We’ve been through worse. 

I’ve never owned a home. Raised my daughters in an apartment in Sacramento. I do not understand the obsession with buying a house.

I help people find state government jobs [at State Job Workshops]. A lot of my clients are laid off by the big corporations. My clients are mostly in their 50s and 60s. These big corporations, they’re not laying off people based on their ability—they’re cutting by pay. And who’s the first to go? The people who are making their peak wages. 

Dwyn Asher

Age: 33

Occupation: Marketing and communications at a nonprofit

Income: $4,500

Rent: $1,400 

My nonprofit works with a lot of low-income and unhoused people. We served 4.8 million meals last year. That’s up from three million the year before. It’s worse now than it was during the pandemic. At least during Covid, there was a lot of government assistance. But all those protections are gone now.

I have side hustles. I do cat-sitting. I teach crafts. And I’ll do freelance graphic design. I’m lucky that I’m from San Francisco and my family is here, so if I ever get into a pinch, I have a safety net.

Kael Teodorowicz

Age: 41

Occupation: Co-founder, product management software company for freelance filmmakers

Income: $10,000 

Rent: $3,000

I moved from Venezuela 14 years ago. Prices there are almost decided on the streets. You wake up tomorrow and the prices are up 1,000%. Here, even though things are going up, it’s way more controlled. 

I’m currently building a company, so a lot of my expenses go toward that. I have five employees. One is based in Colombia. The company is called CinemaHive.

I used to pick my own stocks and try to beat the market but I’ve learned that I better just stay with the index. I only do indices—the QQQ or the S&P 500. 

Johnicon George

Age: 55

Occupation: Sanitation-truck driver

Income: $7,700

Mortgage: $1,700

My wife and I make good money, but I worry for my grandchildren. I’m trying to teach my 16-year-old son financial literacy, but everything is so expensive and it keeps going up.

We used to take three vacations a year. Now we take one. But we make up for it with little weekend trips, sometimes in San Francisco to play tourist again. 

California is just too expensive. There are taxes on everything. My wife and I are considering moving to Arizona or even Texas. We’re Democrats and those are red states, but we’re willing to make that sacrifice.

Maggie Bach

Age: 25

Occupation: Marketing in residential real estate 

Income: $7,500 

Rent: $2,400

I’m originally from Hawaii. The cost of living is very high there—higher than San Francisco. Groceries and utilities, just everything, was more expensive because everything is shipped out to Hawaii. But rent is more expensive in San Francisco.

A pack of salmon used to be around $20 to $22 and now it’s closer to $30 to $31. I’ve also noticed that with specific grains, especially quinoa, they’re being sold in smaller packages but the prices have gone up. 

Kevin Hall

Age: 34

Occupation: Independent locksmith

Income: $2,000 

Rent: $0

As a locksmith, we’ve had to raise our prices. It went from $100 an hour a year ago to now $200 an hour. The company charges that rate and I get around 25% of that. 

I get therapy covered through Medi-Cal. My therapist tells me, ‘Why don’t you go on a walk?’ And I say, ‘What do you mean, walking? I need to work.’ All I do is work and worry about making money. 

My family lives in Palo Alto, so they’re close by. I’m trying to build up a client list in San Francisco. When I’m in the city, I live in my car. Otherwise, I have a room in my locksmith mentor’s house in Napa, free of charge. 

Matt Lanter

Age: 53

Occupation: Mail carrier

Income: $3,700 

Rent: $2,200

I found out about a tumor on my spine in 2020. The tumor is benign but it’s still growing. That means I can’t do a lot of overtime because of my back. And overtime is where the money is.

I’ve thought about renting a room somewhere. But I’d probably save $500 a month and I’d have to share a kitchen and a bathroom. I’m 53. I don’t want to have a roommate.

I’ve been living check-to-check since the pandemic. Everything’s gone up, except wages. As far as I’ve been alive, this is the worst economy to me. I’ve made mistakes. But I shouldn’t be where I’m at.

Vanshika Gupta

Age: 32

Occupation: Ph.D. student in psychology and therapist

Income: $5,000

Rent: $0 

My husband takes care of the rent because he makes double what I make. I take care of everything else—utilities and groceries. 

What I’ve been earning has been going to my Ph.D. Another three months and I’m almost done. I’ll be earning more so I can factor that in for both of us. 

I moved from St. Louis to Chicago to San Francisco. I don’t think I could survive San Francisco alone as a student.

Brytanee Brown

Age: 34

Occupation: Small-business owner, consulting firm focused on transportation

Income: $6,500

Rent: $1,425

When I was starting my business, Emergent Labs, I wasn’t able to pay myself, so I accumulated some credit card debt. Right now, I’m paying those off while also replenishing my emergency savings and retirement funds. 

I want to be able to pay myself more and support my mother more. In two years, I want to be able to pay her rent.

All my friends, we do pretty well for ourselves. We’ve got degrees. But we just feel like we can’t make big purchases or accumulate wealth. We don’t have a home; we’re all in our early 30s. We’ve got student loans. I have $67,000 in student-loan debt from both undergrad and grad school.

Write to Angel Au-Yeung at angel.au-yeung@wsj.com

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