States Where People Spend the Most & Least on Groceries

Grocery prices have surged in recent years, increasing by nearly 30% since 2019, according to the USDA. Income growth hasn’t kept pace with these rising costs, making groceries less affordable and forcing households to spend a larger share of their earnings on food.

To examine the impact, WalletHub analyzed the prices of 26 commonly purchased grocery items across all 50 states. We then totaled these costs and compared them with each state’s median household income to identify where residents devote the largest percentage of their income to groceries.

“While grocery prices have gone up tremendously in recent years, the states in which people spend the greatest percentage of their income on groceries actually aren’t those with the highest prices. Instead, the median incomes in these states are quite low, so even with reasonable grocery prices, residents end up shelling out a higher percentage of their earnings than people in states with more expensive products.”

Chip Lupo, WalletHub Writer and Analyst

To make sure that you can afford the groceries you need, it’s important to learn how to make a budget. When you create your budget, groceries should be one of the first items that you set money aside for, since they’re an essential need, but you should also consider cutting back on expensive luxury foods if your budget is tight and instead focus on less costly staples. That way, you can minimize the share of your income that your grocery shopping takes up.

Main Findings

States That Spend the Most & Least on Groceries

Note: *No. 1 = Highest Spending

In-Depth Look at States That Spend the Most

Mississippi

People in Mississippi spend the most on groceries, which have an average cost of 2.6% of the median household income, the highest percentage in the country. For comparison, New Jersey and Massachusetts residents only spend around 1.5% of their income on groceries, the lowest percentage.

Interestingly, grocery prices in Mississippi are actually relatively low – the sixth-cheapest in the nation. For example, in 13 of the product categories measured in our study, including sausage, margarine, peas, dishwashing detergent, and chicken, Mississippi is among the 10 least expensive states.

The main problem lies in the fact that Mississippi has the lowest median annual household income in America, at just $54,915. So even with relatively low grocery prices overall, Mississippians are spending a higher percentage of their income on groceries than people in any other state.

West Virginia

West Virginians spend the second most money on groceries as a percentage of their income, over 2.5%. This is mainly due to the fact that West Virginia also has the second-lowest median household income in the country, at $57,917 per year.

In addition, there are a few major categories of groceries that are more expensive in West Virginia than in most other states. For example, it has the 14th-highest egg prices, the 17th-highest potato prices and the eighth-highest sugar prices in the country. For other grocery prices, West Virginia is either around the middle or bottom of the country. In fact, it’s the sixth-least expensive state for lettuce and ranks in the 10 least-expensive states for nine other product categories.

Reasonable prices on most groceries unfortunately can’t make up for low incomes in West Virginia.

Arkansas

Arkansas residents spend the third-most money on groceries relative to what they earn, shelling out around 2.4% of the median household income each month. Like the other high-spending states, Arkansas has a low median household income, at only $58,773 per year. That’s the third-lowest in the country.

Unfortunately, because of the low median income in Arkansas, even the fifth-cheapest groceries in the country don’t stop people from having to spend a large portion of their income. Arkansas ranks among the 10 least-expensive states for twenty types of goods in our study, including chicken, potato chips, corn flakes, frozen meals and sausage.

There is only one product category for which Arkansas is more expensive than most states, potatoes where it ranks as the fourth-most expensive. So despite relatively low grocery prices overall, Arkansans spend a higher share of their already low incomes on groceries.

Ask the Experts

To gain more insight into the topics of buying and budgeting for groceries, WalletHub turned to a panel of experts. You can click on the experts below to read their bios and see their 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

Yulonda T. Griffin
Ph.D. – Adjunct Instructor, Delgado Community College, Business & Technology Department and Owner, LIV Consultants, LLC
Read More

Russ McCullough
Ph.D. – Wayne Angell Chair of Economics, Angell Snyder School of Business, Founder/Director, Gwartney Institute - Ottawa University
Read More

Ali Muqadas Jaffri
Ph.D., CFA – Assistant Professor of Practice in Finance, Department of Finance, Supply Chain Management and Transportation - North Dakota State University
Read More

Shad B. Ewart
Assistant Professor, Business Management, School of Business and Law - Anne Arundel Community College
Read More

JP Krahel
CPA, Ph.D. – Accounting Department Chair, Professor of Accounting, Sellinger School of Business, Loyola University Maryland
Read More

David Hart
Executive in Residence - Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Read More

More Experts

6 Tips for Saving on Your Groceries

1. Budget carefully: Creating a budget will help you determine how much money you’re able to spend on groceries, which can keep you from splurging and making impulse purchases that would put you over the limit.
2. Use the right credit card: Getting one of the best credit cards for groceries can save you anywhere from 1.5% to 6% at checkout. That adds up quickly, and can help to offset how much prices have inflated in recent years.
3. Take advantage of discounts: In addition to regular sales, many grocery stores offer coupons on items. You just need to be willing to find them and redeem them at checkout. Some stores also offer discounts that are exclusive to members of their free loyalty programs, so you should make sure to join these programs.
4. Buy store-brand items: Many store-brand products are virtually identical to name-brand foods in taste but cost significantly less. You can save a ton of money by replacing most goods with generic products.
5. Look for clearance items: Some stores will put items that are close to their sell-by date on steep discount to avoid having to throw them away. As long as you use the food relatively quickly, it’ll still be perfectly good.
6. Buy in bulk: Warehouse stores offer groceries in bulk at far lower prices than it would cost to buy the same number of items individually. Getting a membership to one of these stores is especially worthwhile for people with big families.

Methodology

In order to determine the states 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 the 50 states.

We summed up the individual costs of the components and adjusted the resulting figure to the median monthly income in each state, 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 January 15, 2026 from the Council for Community and Economic Research and U.S. Census Bureau.

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