Trump’s Tariffs Cost American Households $1,000 Last Year—and That Number Is Going Up in 2026

Since President Trump returned to office last year, his administration has implemented sweeping tariffs that have affected every aspect of American life, including housing. 

In reviewing the impact of these tariffs in 2025, the nonpartisan research team at Tax Foundation found that the average American household paid $1,000 in costs related to tariffs.

By their estimation, even if the administration makes zero changes in 2026, the costs will continue to rise. 

The cost of living in 2026 is going up

According to Tax Foundation’s research, the federal government collected $264 billion in total tariff revenues in 2025. The think tank called it "the largest U.S. tax increase as a percent of GDP since 1993."

The research also found that even if Trump’s administration doesn’t impose any new tariffs or make any increases, the cost of living is still set to increase in 2026. Their projection? $1,300 per household.

It has been argued by the administration that the tariffs have had a positive impact on the American economy.

"America's average tariff rate has increased by nearly tenfold in the past year—while inflation has actually cooled, real wages have risen, GDP growth has accelerated, and trillions in investments continue pouring in to make and hire in America," White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to ABC News in response to the Tax Foundation findings.

However, their research suggests the president’s tariff policy worsens cost-of-living concerns as households struggle with persistently high prices.

Housing implications

Tariffs had had several impacts on the housing market, both for current owners juggling a household budget and prospective buyers hoping to land in a home. 

The biggest impacts have been on furniture, lumber, steel, and aluminum. 

On Sept. 30, 2025, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, and upholstered furniture, effective Oct. 14, 2025. These rates were slated to increase on Jan. 1, 2026, to 30% for upholstered furniture and 50% for cabinets and vanities. 

However, on Dec. 31, 2025, the president paused these increases until Jan. 1, 2027. And yet, homeowners looking to remodel have felt the pinch, especially when shopping at foreign-owned furniture stores like Ikea

"We can’t stay immune to absorb all the costs ourselves," Tolga Öncü, retail manager at Ingka, which operates most Ikea stores around the world, told The Wall Street Journal, admitting that passing on "part of the cost increase to the customers" is their new reality.  

Additionally, on Febr. 10, 2025, President Trump signed proclamations expanding Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs, eliminating exemptions, and raising the aluminum tariff from 10% to 25%. By the end of May, the tariffs doubled to 50% for all countries except the U.K. Shortly after that, the administration extended the tariffs to the steel content of eight more product lines, including various household appliances, such as dishwashers, refrigerators, washing machines, dryers, freezers, stoves, ovens, and food waste disposals.

Additionally, President Trump issued a proclamation announcing that he would be imposing 10% tariffs on lumber, effective Oct. 14, 2025.

“These new tariffs will create additional headwinds for an already challenged housing market by further raising construction and renovation costs,” warned National Association of Home Builders Chairman Buddy Hughes at the time.

In 2024, the NAHB estimated that new residential construction, including both single-family and multifamily housing, utilized $204 billion worth of goods. Of this total, $14 billion were imported, indicating that roughly 7% of all materials used in new U.S. residential construction originated in foreign nations.

While the Tax Foundation’s research report estimates that lumber-related Section 232 tariffs have a very small long-run effect on the overall U.S. economy—about a few thousand jobs and under 0.05% of GDP—the much larger economic damage comes from broader tariffs and foreign retaliation.