Grocery Spending Statistics 2026: Average Bills, Food Prices, and Shopping Trends

The average American family of four spends between $$993 and $1,641 per month on groceries depending on their budget, while grocery prices rose 2.4% in 2025. With Walmart commanding over 21% of the grocery market and online grocery continuing to grow, understanding where food dollars go matters for consumers and businesses alike. This report compiles source-verified statistics on grocery spending, prices, and trends.

Key Findings at a Glance

• The USDA Thrifty Food Plan costs $$992.90 per month for a family of four (January 2025), while the Liberal plan costs $$1,641.50 (USDA FNS).
• The food-at-home CPI rose 2.4% in 2025, with meats, poultry, fish, and eggs up 3.9% while dairy fell 0.9% (BLS CPI December 2025).
• Walmart captured 21.2% of U.S. grocery market share in Q1 2025, followed by Kroger at 8.9% and Costco at 8.5% (Progressive Grocer / Numerator).
• Federal spending on food and nutrition assistance programs totaled $$142.2 billion in FY 2024, with SNAP accounting for $$99.8 billion (USDA ERS).
• Total U.S. food expenditures reached $$2.58 trillion in 2024, with food at home accounting for $$1.06 trillion (USDA ERS Food Expenditure Series).

Average Household Grocery Spending

The USDA publishes four food plans with monthly costs for a reference family of four (two adults ages 20-50, two children ages 6-8 and 9-11):

Individual Monthly Costs (Thrifty Plan, January 2025)

• Add 20% for 1-person households, 10% for 2-person, 5% for 3-person, subtract 5% for 5-6 person households.

Sources: USDA Thrifty Food Plan (Jan 2025); USDA Food Plans: Three Levels (Jan 2025)

Grocery Spending by Demographics

• Americans spent 11.3% of disposable income on food in 2023 (the latest available year), one of the lowest shares globally (USDA ERS Food Expenditure Series).
• Food at home accounted for $$1.06 trillion in 2024, while food away from home reached $$1.52 trillion (USDA ERS).
• The average U.S. household spent $$6,289 on food at home and $$4,345 on food away from home in 2023 (the latest BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data) (BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey).
• Households in the lowest income quintile spent 30.6% of income on food, compared to 7.5% for the highest quintile.

Food Price Inflation

CPI for Food at Home by Category (12 months ending December 2025)

• Dairy was the only major category to decline year-over-year in 2025.
• Cumulative food-at-home price increases since 2020 have exceeded 25%, far outpacing overall CPI.

Sources: BLS Consumer Price Index, December 2025; BLS CPI 2025 in Review

Grocery vs. Dining Out Split

• Total U.S. food expenditures reached $$2.58 trillion in 2024.
• Food away from home ($1.52 trillion) now exceeds food at home ($1.06 trillion), continuing a trend that accelerated post-pandemic.
• The food-away-from-home share of total food spending has grown from 43.7% in 1997 to approximately 59% in 2024.

• Full-service restaurants captured 36.3% of food-away-from-home spending in 2024, while limited-service took 36.2% (USDA ERS).

Source: USDA ERS Food Expenditure Series

Online Grocery Shopping

• Walmart leads online grocery with 25.7% market share in 2024, followed by Amazon at 22% (Oberlo).
• U.S. online grocery sales reached approximately $$120 billion in 2024, representing roughly 11% of total grocery sales.
• Online grocery is projected to continue growing at a 10-12% CAGR through 2028.
• 67% of consumers have purchased groceries online at least once, though only ~25% do so regularly.

Source: Oberlo Online Grocery Market Share; Capital One Shopping

Grocery Store Market Share

• Walmart's grocery market share has grown steadily, driven by price competitiveness and Walmart+ membership.
• Costco and Sam's Club are gaining share at the expense of traditional supermarkets.
• Kroger's dollar share has dropped from 9.1% in 2023 to 8.5% in early 2025 (Grocery Dive).

Sources: Progressive Grocer; Grocery Dive

Private Label vs. National Brand

• Private-label grocery sales have reached record levels, with store brands now accounting for roughly 20-22% of grocery dollar sales and an even higher share of unit sales.
• In categories like milk, bread, and canned goods, private-label share exceeds 30% of unit sales.
• The gap between private-label and national brand pricing averages 25-30%, making store brands attractive during periods of food inflation.

Source: FMI (Food Industry Association); Store Brands

SNAP and Food Assistance

• SNAP accounted for approximately 70% of total USDA food and nutrition assistance spending in FY 2024.
• Inflation-adjusted spending on WIC increased by 5% compared to FY 2023.
• Combined inflation-adjusted spending on child nutrition programs (excluding Summer EBT) increased by 2%.

Sources: USDA ERS FY 2024 Food Assistance Landscape; USDA ERS Chart

Grocery Store Profit Margins

• The average net profit margin for food retailers was 1.7% in 2024. Pre-tax profit margin on total revenue is 2.2%, dropping to 1.6% after taxes (Grocery Dive).
• Only 38% of food retailers expected same-store sales to grow in 2024, and just 13% predicted net profits would increase.
• Average weekly sales per supermarket: $711,806; average supermarket size: 42,453 square feet; weekly sales per square foot of selling area: $$18.55 (FMI).

Self-Checkout Adoption

• Approximately 60% of U.S. grocery transactions now go through self-checkout lanes (Capital One Shopping).
• Nearly 205,000 self-checkout terminals were delivered globally in 2024; by 2030, global installations are projected to exceed 2.1 million.
• The global self-checkout market reached $$6.89 billion in 2025, projected to reach $$13.5 billion by 2030 (CAGR 14.5%) (Fortune Business Insights).
• 53% of consumers aged 18-44 prefer self-checkout; 80% of consumers favor stores that provide self-checkout.
• Self-checkout shrink rates run 3.5%-4% of sales, compared to approximately 0.21% at staffed registers -- over 16x higher (CSP Daily News).
• 27% of shoppers admitted to purposefully taking an item without scanning at self-checkout (up from 15% in 2023) (LendingTree).

Shrinkflation

• About one-third of ~100 common consumer products tracked have shrunk in size or servings since the pandemic, with size reductions averaging 14.8% without corresponding price decreases (Capital One Shopping).
• 71% of Americans report noticing shrinkflation; 48% have abandoned a brand due to shrinkflation (LendingTree).
• Most-affected categories: household paper products (worst offenders), breakfast foods (44% of tracked items now sold in smaller portions), and candy (~38% of items sold in smaller amounts).
• A January 2026 study published in Marketing Science confirmed shrinking package sizes hide significant food inflation (Phys.org).

Source: U.S. GAO -- What Is "Shrinkflation"

Organic Food Market

• U.S. organic sales reached $$71.6 billion in 2024, growing at 5.2% -- more than double the overall marketplace growth rate of 2.5% (OTA 2025 Organic Market Report).
• Organic produce led at $$21.5 billion (30.1% of total organic sales), followed by grocery ($15B) and beverages ($9.5B).
• Organic meat, poultry, and seafood surged 16.1% year over year; organic yogurt grew 10.5%.
• The global organic food market is valued at approximately $$230 billion in 2024, projected to reach $$587-$660 billion by 2033-2034 (CAGR ~10-11%) (Globe Newswire).

Food Deserts and Food Insecurity

• Approximately 19 million Americans live in food deserts -- low-income census tracts more than 1 mile from a supermarket in urban areas or 10 miles in rural areas (USDA Food Access Research Atlas).
• A broader USDA measure finds 39 million people (13% of the U.S. population) live in low-income, low-access areas.
• 9 of the top 10 states with the greatest share of residents in food deserts are in the South. Mississippi ranks #1 (30% of residents), followed by New Mexico (29%) and Arkansas (26%) (Annie E. Casey Foundation).
• 13.7% of U.S. households were food insecure at some point in 2024; rural food insecurity rose to 15.9% in 2024 (Rural Health Information Hub).

Digital Coupons and Discounts

• 165.5 million American consumers (62% of adults) redeemed digital coupons in 2024 (Capital One Shopping).
• Digital coupon redemption rate: 33.3%, significantly higher than traditional paper coupons.
• 76% of shoppers use digital grocery coupons; 75% use coupons to decide what goes on their shopping list.
• 33% of grocery shoppers used more coupons in 2024 than in 2023; 93.5% of digital coupon users redeem coupons via smartphone.
• 48% of consumers avoid brands that don't provide any coupons or discounts (CouponFollow).

Retail Shrinkage

• Retail shrink totaled 1.6% of sales in FY 2022, equaling $$112.1 billion in losses (NRF 2023 National Retail Security Survey).
• In 2024, U.S. retailers lost an estimated $$45 billion to shoplifting alone, with incidents up 18% versus 2023 and 93% versus 2019.
• Organized retail crime (ORC) incidents rose 57% from 2022 to 2023.
• Shrink composition: external theft 37%, internal theft 29% (combined: 66% of all shrinkage).

Related reading: for grocery delivery and Instacart order data, see our Food Delivery Statistics 2026 report.

If you found this data useful, please cite as: "Grocery Spending Statistics 2026," receiptgenerators.net, February 2026.

Methodology and Sources

All statistics in this report are sourced from publicly available government data and industry research. Primary sources include:

• USDA ERS: Food Expenditure Series and Food Price Outlook.
• USDA FNS: Cost of Food Monthly Reports (January 2025).
• BLS: Consumer Price Index, December 2025 and Consumer Expenditure Survey.
• Progressive Grocer / Numerator: Grocery Market Share Q1 2025.
• USDA ERS: FY 2024 Food and Nutrition Assistance Landscape.
• FMI: Food Retailing Industry Speaks 2024.
• NRF: Impact of Retail Theft & Violence 2024.
• OTA: 2025 Organic Market Report.

Last updated: February 2026.