Cities Where People Spend the Most & Least on Groceries

Grocery prices continued to get more and more expensive recently, due in part to general inflation and in part to supply issues that affect individual items, such as bird flu limiting the egg supply. Since groceries are essential purchases, it’s more important now than ever for people to be smart with their spending.

WalletHub analyzed the prices of 26 common grocery items in 100 of the largest cities. We then added these costs together and compared them to the median household income in order to determine where people are spending the greatest percentage of their income on groceries.

“In the cities where people spend the most money on groceries, residents often have low incomes on top of seeing high sticker prices on common grocery items. Shoppers should take advantage of sales and coupons, buy generic items and buy in bulk if possible in order to save money. It’s also a good idea to use a credit card that gives a good amount of rewards on grocery purchases and pay it off in full each month.”

Chip Lupo, WalletHub Writer and Analyst

To make sure that grocery purchases don’t take too much of a bite out of your finances, it’s important to know how to make a budget. When you create your budget, you should put in groceries among the first things you add since they’re essential. At the same time, you can consider cutting expensive treats out of your budget or limiting how often you buy them.

Main Findings

Cities That Spend the Most & Least on Groceries

Note: *No. 1 = Highest Spending

In-Depth Look at the Cities That Spend the Most

Detroit, MI

People in Detroit spend the most on groceries, which have an average cost of nearly 3.8% of the median household income, the highest percentage in the country. For comparison, Fremont, CA, residents spend an average of less than 1% of their income on groceries, the lowest percentage.

Overall, Detroit has the 36th-most expensive groceries out of the 100 cities in our study, so its prices are relatively average. There are a few types of groceries that are very expensive or very inexpensive relative to other cities’ prices, though. Detroit has the 10th-most expensive lettuce prices in the country, along with the 14th-highest sugar prices and 17th-highest whole milk prices. However, for quite a few types of groceries, such as ground beef, chunk light tuna, and peaches, the city’s prices are among the least expensive in the nation.

The biggest reason why Detroit residents spend such a high percentage of their income on groceries isn’t high prices – it’s the fact that the city has the second-lowest median annual household income in America, at just $39,575. As a result, every dollar that people in Detroit spend on groceries takes up a disproportionately high share of their earnings compared to people in cities with higher incomes.

Cleveland

Cleveland residents spend the second-most money on groceries as a percentage of their income, at nearly 3.8%. This is mainly due to the fact that Cleveland has the lowest median household income in the country, at $39,187 per year.

In addition, there are a few major categories of groceries that are more expensive in Cleveland compared to most other cities in our study. For example, Cleveland has the eighth-highest shortening prices, the 15th-highest soft drink and banana prices in the country. For certain other grocery items, Cleveland has relatively low prices. In fact, whole milk, frying chicken, coffee and corn flakes are all relatively cheap in the city.

Reasonable grocery prices unfortunately aren’t able to make up for Cleveland’s low median incomes.

Birmingham, AL

Birmingham, AL, residents spend the third-most money on groceries relative to what they earn, shelling out around 3.3% of the median household income each month. As is the case with the other high-spending cities, Birmingham has low incomes. The median household income is $44,376 per year, the fifth-lowest in the country.

Birmingham has the 10th-most expensive potatoes in the nation, along with the 22nd-most expensive soft drinks. However, overall, its grocery prices are not that high. In fact, it’s one of the least-expensive cities for corn flakes, detergent and shortening. The fact that residents spend a very high percentage of their incomes on groceries is mainly due to how low the median household income is.

Ask the Experts

To get more insight into grocery shopping and its effects on your finances, WalletHub turned to a panel of experts. Click on the experts below to view their bios and responses to the following key questions:

1. What tips do you have to help people avoid overspending on groceries?
2. How important is budgeting when it comes to saving money on groceries?
3. How do you think the current social and economic environment is influencing household spending on groceries decisions?

Ask the Experts

Jeff Shockley
Ph.D. – Professor, Department of Supply Chain Management & Analytics, VCU School of Business - Virginia Commonwealth University
Read More

Andrew Burnstine
Ph.D. – Associate Professor, College of Business and Management - Lynn University
Read More

Tips for Saving Money on Groceries

1. Budget carefully: Creating a budget lets you know exactly how much you can afford to spend, which can prevent you from making impulse purchases while shopping. Always stick to your budget and try to make a shopping list before going to the store.
2. Use the right credit card: The best credit cards for groceries can save you 1.5% to 6% on supermarket purchases. That can definitely help take the sting out of inflated prices.
3. Take advantage of discounts: Grocery stores typically have sales on a regular basis. They also often provide coupons, either online, through an app or by mail. You should also join stores’ free loyalty programs to take advantage of exclusive member discounts.
4. Buy store-brand items: Store-brand items often taste very similar to name-brand groceries but cost a lot less. If you’re not picky about what brands you buy, you can save a ton each time you shop.
5. Look for clearance items: Your local grocery store may put items that are close to their expiration date on clearance, selling them for far less than the normal retail price. You’ll just need to eat these items quickly so they don’t spoil.
6. Buy in bulk: Consider shopping at warehouse stores, which sell groceries in bulk at steep discounts compared to buying the same number of items individually. These stores are most worthwhile for people with big families who go through a lot of groceries.

Methodology

In order to determine the cities that spend the most and least on groceries, WalletHub analyzed the price of 26 components ranging from meat, dairy, vegetables and fruits to frozen food and cleaning products across some of the largest 100 cities.

We summed up the individual costs of the components and adjusted the resulting figure to the median monthly income in each city, then used these results to rank-order our sample.

For simplicity, we considered the acquisition of only one unit\pack of each component included in our calculation.

 
Sources: Data used to create this ranking were collected as of September 10, 2025 from the U.S. Census Bureau and Council for Community and Economic Research.

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