Some Long Islanders see high costs amid President Trump's 'roaring' economy

The growing cost of living on Long Island is putting pressure on residents’ pocketbooks, they say, even as President Donald Trump touted lower costs at the State of the Union address.

Inflation nationwide is falling fast, Trump said during the address Tuesday evening. Incomes are rising quickly and the economy is "roaring like never before," the president said.

But some Long Islanders on Wednesday said their expenses have risen and their outlook is less rosy than Trump's.

Keeping up with costs

"If someone could show me where the cost of living is going down, I’d love to see that," Valley Stream resident Eric Nelson, 27, told Newsday outside Green Acres Mall on Wednesday.

For Nelson, the high cost of rent on Long Island is one of the reasons he has been living with his parents since the COVID-19 pandemic, which started in early 2020. He said he’s considering moving to Rockland County to find an affordable apartment.

"I feel like Long Island has been growing in cost more than the rest of the state," Nelson said.

How Long Islanders feel about the state of the economy is largely influenced by where they fall on the financial ladder, said Steven Kent, chief economist of the Research Institute at the Long Island Association, a Melville-based business organization. One reason is that wage growth hasn’t kept pace with the increased costs of living, Kent said.

"If you own real estate already," he added, "then you are pretty happy with the way things are going. Prices have gone up a lot."

High-priced housing market

Homeowners on Long Island have enjoyed years of rising home prices, growing their home equity, Newsday has reported. But those higher prices have made it difficult for would-be buyers to find a home.

The median price of a single-family home on Long Island, excluding the ritzier Hamptons and the North Fork, rose 5.6% to $739,000 in the fourth quarter of 2025, compared to a year before, Newsday reported. Home prices have more than doubled since 2012, said Jonathan Miller, CEO of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel in Manhattan.

"Home prices have been rising two to three times the rate of inflation for more than a decade," Miller said.

Long Islanders did see the median monthly payment for a Long Island home mortgage fall by 1.1% to $4,881 in December, Newsday reported. But that monthly payment was roughly double the nationwide median of $2,413 per month.

Grocery prices remain high

A major focus of Trump’s campaign for office was his vow to reduce inflation, which for groceries hit a 43-year high of 13.5% in August 2022.

In January, grocery prices were up 2.1% compared to the same month in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In January 2025 prices were up 1.9% over the year before.

However, overall inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, slowed to 2.4% nationwide in January, down from 3% the same month a year earlier, according to the bureau.

Presidential approval polls show that many Americans aren’t satisfied with the state of the economy.

A majority of Americans, 64%, disapprove of the president’s handling of tariffs on imported goods, according to results of an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll of 2,589 U.S. adults published Sunday.

Also, 48% of those polled said the economy has worsened under Trump, while 29% said it had improved.

The trouble with tariffs

Tariffs that were repeatedly imposed and suspended last year created economic uncertainty, which curtailed how much consumers and businesses spent, said John Rizzo, an economist and professor at Stony Brook University.

"I think in many ways, the economy, broadly, is worse off because of these ... tariffs, and the way they’re implemented and changed, Rizzo said. "And basically, a lot of things that are going on at the federal level are causing economic disruptions,"

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down global tariffs imposed by Trump using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The court said the president exceeded his authority.

Long Islanders have seen higher utility bills over the past year as well — though they found some relief at the gas pump.

Falling fuel prices

The average price of a gallon of regular gasoline over the last year has fallen 5.3%, from $3.14 to $2.98, nationwide, and it fell 6.3%, from $3.06 to $2.86, on Long Island, according to AAA.

But at the same time, utility bills have risen, particularly during this month’s cold snap, Newsday reported. The power supply charge — which covers the cost of fuel that PSEG Long Island buys from Long Island power plants — hit 14.69 cents per kilowatt-hour in February. That’s a 22% increase over one year ago, Newsday reported.

Meanwhile, the average price of a gallon of heating oil increased less dramatically, by 5.1% to $4.26 as of Feb. 16, when compared to a year before, according to data from the New York State Energy  Research and Development Authority.