The cost of living keeps going up.

And more people are poring over their expenses and cutting back on daily household needs to cover the rising costs of gas, milk, food and electricity.

So far, however, they are not giving up a trip to the ballpark.

In fact, attendance is up at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket and at Fenway Park in Boston.

The PawSox attracted an average of 8,081 fans a game this year through last Wednesday, up from an average of 8,025 last year. The four sellouts for Red Sox slugger David Ortiz’s scheduled trip to Pawtucket for a rehabilitation stint that started Thursday pushed the club’s projections well above last year’s attendance figures. That’s with gas above $4 a gallon and electricity bills that last week jumped about $16.67 a month for a typical customer.

The tough economy actually may help the minor-league club, said Bill Wanless, vice president of public relations for the PawSox.

“We have a nice niche and we’ve always promoted our ballpark as a night of family entertainment for $20 to $25 and free parking,” he said.

It’s a somewhat different story at Fenway Park in Boston, where the lowest-price, standing-room-only ticket goes for $20 and the cost of parking, driving to the ballpark and food can run a fan more than $100 a night.

Yet, the Red Sox are averaging 37,621 a game at home, up 2.5 percent from last year. The team benefits from a good number of corporate ticket buyers who hand out the seats to clients. Still, a lot of everyday fans who are suffering through the downturn are showing up for the games.

At last week’s mid-season break and All-Star game, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig told reporters that he’s looked back through history and found that baseball weathers recessions pretty well.

“I’m concerned about [high gas prices and the poor economy], but so far we haven’t seen it hurt any level of our business. I’m grateful for that. But there’s no question costs are escalating,” he said.

The league-wide numbers show there has been a slight decline in fans. Average attendance per home game at the midyear break was 32,011, about 770 people, or 2.5 percent, less than the average last year. About 45.5 million fans have passed through the turnstiles and Selig said the sport is on track to draw 80 million to 81 million fans, which would be an increase, if there are good pennant races and good weather.

Not every ballpark is filling the seats, however. In fact, 19 of the major-league ball clubs reported that average attendance is off compared with last year, while 11 teams had higher average attendance. The winning teams tend to do better.

For example, while the Sox in Boston and the Mets in New York are posting better attendance figures than last year, cities such as San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego and Minnesota are way off.

Some franchises are responding to the tight times and the criticism that the high ticket, food and parking prices make it unaffordable for many families.

In San Francisco, the Giants are giving out $25 gas cards to anyone who buys four tickets for $75. In Minnesota, the Twins are discounting the weekly national average price of gas off certain tickets.

“We are family entertainment,” Selig admitted. “I am sensitive to ticket prices. What I always assume is that the local club is sensitive to its market, knows its market and understands its market and they do what they think will work in their market.”

The real test for baseball may come if the economy slips deeper into recession, putting more people out of work, while families have to pay more for basic household needs. The United States may be approaching that tipping point.

There’s a measuring stick called the Misery Index, created by Arthur Okun, an economic adviser to President Lyndon Johnson, to gauge the impact of the unemployment and inflation rates on people’s lives.

When the consumer price index, also called the inflation rate, jumped last week, the Misery Index spiked to its highest level in 15 years.

That’s because the year-over-year inflation rate accelerated to 5 percent in June, the fastest since May 1991. The Labor Department report showed rising prices for milk, plane tickets and energy. A host of other products and services took a bigger bite from people’s buying power. The data also showed wages fell 2.4 percent over the last 12 months, after adjusting for inflation.

Meanwhile, the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in June, with 8.5 million people out of work. Rhode Island continues to shed jobs and its unemployment rate rose in June to 7.5 percent, one of the highest in the country. There were 42,600 Rhode Islanders who couldn’t find jobs, the highest number in 15 years.

Some economists predict that the recession will deepen, and the Misery Index will go still higher.

If it gets much worse, a trip to the ballpark may no longer be an affordable option for a summer night out to leave your problems at home.

jkostrze@projo.com