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Always products are displayed on a shelf at a supermarket in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina on October 29, 2024. <\/p>\n
Dado Ruvik | reuters<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Prices on store shelves have increased over the years due to rising inflation and constantly changing tariff policies, straining consumers’ budgets.<\/p>\n
An often overlooked example: menstrual products.<\/p>\n
The average price of menstrual products, including sanitary pads and tampons, has increased nearly 40% since 2020, from about $5.37 per unit to $7.43 per unit, according to February data from Chicago-based market research firm Circana.<\/p>\n
According to Circana, dollar sales of menstrual products have increased nearly 30% over the same period.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
But at the same time, according to NielsenIQ data, sales of menstrual products \u2014 which broadly include pads, tampons, liners and more \u2014 have seen a decline of about 6% since 2022, falling incrementally every year.<\/p>\n
The data analytics company noted that the average unit price of items across stores has seen an increase, with dollar volume of consumer packaged goods up 2.7% year-over-year. Those price increases are in line with climbing inflation, with the latest consumer price index in February seeing an annual increase of 2.4%. <\/p>\n
The latest CPI data found that inflation in personal care products in the US rose dramatically, up 22.1% in February from January 2020.<\/p>\n
But since menstrual products are a necessity for a large portion of the population, those costs may put consumers at a disadvantage. <\/p>\n
“I think we’re at a point where consumers in general have to choose whether they can buy food for their family, or buy prescriptions for their family. Some things that we typically define as a necessity, people are finding alternatives to them or going without,” said Sarah Broyd, partner at consultancy firm Clarkston Consulting. <\/p>\n
Broyd said the difference between higher prices and falling sales shows consumers are looking for alternatives out of necessity. <\/p>\n
It is not just menstrual products that have been hit by inflation. According to government data, the US collected $115 million through tariffs on cotton-containing menstrual products in 2025, compared to only $42 million in 2020.<\/p>\n
America imported<\/a> According to the World Bank, most of its menstrual products in 2024 will come from Canada, China and Mexico. President Donald Trump has imposed varying levels of tariffs on all three of those countries over the past year.<\/p>\n Those extra costs come on top of the so-called “pink tax,” where some states charge a sales tax on menstrual products. According to 2025 data from Statista, Tennessee, Mississippi and Indiana highest sales tax<\/a> 7% on menstrual products. Products that are deemed “medical devices” are often excluded from sales tax.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For 30-year-old Daphna Diamant, the rising prices of menstrual products have become noticeable at the cash register and are impacting her monthly expenses.<\/p>\n The New York resident said she’s seen her usual pack of about 18 tampons rise to about $25, especially in the last year. <\/p>\n “It’s crazy, and it feels like, as a woman, you sometimes have to pay $50 every two months,” Diament told CNBC. \u201cAnd it impacts some people’s income.\u201d<\/p>\n Diament said she feels especially frustrated because this is not a monthly expense she can do without. She often purchases store-brand period products from retailers cvs‘A subscription service for being a woman’<\/h2>\n