A new report by HelpAdvisor, which draws from data published by the U.S. Census Bureau, confirms what many Texas residents already know: groceries are expensive.
The report shows that Texas is the seventh-most expensive state in the United States when it comes to groceries, with an average weekly household grocery bill totaling $286.19, or about $1,200 each month. Things are only slightly better for Dallas residents, who report spending, on average, $282.21 on their weekly grocery bill. That makes Dallas the eighth-most expensive city in the nation for groceries.
Overall, households across the United States spend an average of $270.21 per week on groceries. Spending is even higher for families with children, who report grocery costs of $331.94 per week on average.
A variety of factors have led to increasing food prices since 2020, according to a report by NerdWallet. Inflation, high labor costs, foreign sanctions, droughts and wildfires, the war in Ukraine, and supply-chain issues rank as the biggest causes.
The Consumer Price Indexes provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show that consumers faced a significant spike in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdowns, but the largest spike occurred in 2023 when costs shot up by more than 13%.
Data shows that some commodities, including eggs, lettuce, tomatoes, fresh vegetables, and apples, have decreased in cost over the last year, while other products, like beef steaks, roasts, frozen juices, and food from mobile vendors, have increased dramatically.
The effects of high food costs, coupled with rising housing costs, have impacted hundreds of thousands of Texans. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, when many people were laid off from work, Texas saw a significant increase in demand for food bank services, and many operations are continuing to report near-lockdown demand.
The Central Texas Food Bank has served about 400,000 people over the last several months. It reports that these numbers match those during the spring and summer of 2020.
A HelpAdvisor report shows that Californians pay the highest grocery costs in the continental 48 states, averaging $292.72 per household without children per week. California also has the highest gas prices. Recent legislation in the state raised the minimum wage to $15 for most workers, while certain professions now have a minimum wage of $21 per hour. Higher labor costs impact food prices, and California is a leading national supplier of many foodstuffs.
