Iran war costing US households average of $2K each: Moody’s

The war in Iran has cost the average American household $2,000 so far, according to estimates shared Monday by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics.

“Consider that the war’s costs taken together have absorbed about half the average American household’s income gain over the past eight months,” Zandi wrote on X . “No wonder the war is so unpopular.”

The conflict, which started in late February, has cost U.S. consumers $265 billion nationwide, Moody’s estimates show.

Zandi wrote that energy prices are the most significant contributor to rising costs. A gallon of gasoline costs $4.34, up from $2.98 a gallon before the conflict started, CNN reported . The average cost of diesel is close to $5.8 per gallon, up from $3.1 a year ago, according to AAA .

“Altogether, that comes to close to $1,100 per household, paid at the pump and in the higher cost of everything that moves by truck or plane,” Zandi wrote.

Zandi’s calculations also take into account the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates. Fixed mortgage rates rose from below 6% before the war to about 7.5% now.

“By our reckoning, the higher rates have cost the economy about $540 per household,” he wrote.

The cost of military operations adds up to about $360 per household, according to Zandi’s calculations. In early May, during an appearance in front of the House Appropriations Committee, the Pentagon’s acting chief financial officer, Jules Hurst III, told lawmakers the cost of the conflict was nearing $29 billion.

In late June, the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank, estimated the cost of the operations to be $38.6 billion, The Hill reported . The Center for Strategic and International Studies, in its late-June report , placed the cost at around $40 billion.

In June, the White House requested $87 billion in supplemental funding to help cover the cost of some stockpile replacements and troop deployments in the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) theater, The Hill reported . The bill will likely need Democratic votes to pass in the Senate.