Overview

• The study compared prices for 26 common items in 100 large cities with median household income to estimate the share spent on groceries.
• Detroit had the highest burden at about 3.78% of median income, while Fremont, California was lowest at roughly 0.96%, with San Jose and San Francisco also near the bottom.
• WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said high burdens in cities like Detroit and Cleveland stem largely from very low median incomes rather than unusually high grocery prices.
• BLS data show grocery prices rose 0.6% from July to August, the fastest monthly increase in about three years, and are roughly 29% higher than before the pandemic.
• Regional gaps persist, with examples like ground beef costing about 24% more in the West than in the South, and analysts advise using sales, generics and bulk buying to cut costs.