The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released new data that will come at no surprise to locals who are continuing to grapple with the cost of living crisis, that living costs have increased across all household types.

According to the data the increase occurred in the twelve months to the December 2025 quarter.

"Rises in annual living costs ranged from 2.3 per cent to 4.2 per cent in the December 2025 quarter, depending on the expenditure patters of the different household types," ABS head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said.

"Housing, food and non-alcoholic beverages and recreation and culture were the main contributors to the rises in annual living costs across the household types."

The data showed households with government payments as their main source of income saw the largest annual rises in living costs due to electricity costs over the year.

"Employee household's living costs rose by 2.3 per cent, the smallest annual rise of all household types this quarter," Ms Marquardt said.

"Employee households, whose main source of income is wages and salaries, benefitted the most from falling mortgage interest charges, whicha are a larger part of their spending than for other household types.

"Mortgage interest charges fell 6.4 per cent in the 12 months to the December 2025 quarter, as banks cut interest rates for both variable and new fixed rate home loans following the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to lower the cash rate target in February, May and August 2025," Ms Marquardt said.

Last Tuesday the RBA increased the cash rate by 0.25 per cent, which will change that figure in the next quarter.

Compared to the rise seen in the September quarter the December quarter was slower.

"This quarter, lower electricity and health costs offest the rise in other areas of living costs, as the timing of the Commonwealth Energy Bill Relief Fund (EBRF) extension payments and falls in pharmaceutical products and medical and hospital services lowered out of pocket costs for households," Ms Marquardt said.

The data showed all household types experienced falls in health costs during the December quarter, due to a rise in proportion of households reaching the PBS safety net threshold and the expansion of the bulk billing incentive program, with both reducing out of pocket expenses.

Though it was less than other households, pensioners and beneficiaries saw a rise as well.

"Over the six months between the June 2025 quarter and December 2025 quarter, the CPI rose 1.9 per cent while the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index rose 1.4 per cent," Ms Marquardt said.