Overview
- WalletHub compared the cost of 26 common grocery items across all 50 states with each state's median household income to measure the share of earnings spent on food.
- Mississippi ranks highest at about 2.6% of median income spent on groceries, followed by West Virginia (2.54%) and Arkansas (2.44%).
- Massachusetts and New Jersey rank lowest at roughly 1.51% of income, with several other higher-income states clustered near 1.6%.
- Despite relatively low shelf prices, high-burden states face lower earnings, exemplified by Mississippi’s lowest-in-the-nation median income of about $54,915.
- Grocery prices are up nearly 30% since 2019, and the USDA projects 2026 increases of about 3.0% for all food and 1.7% for food-at-home, with economists pointing to labor, materials, tariffs and supply pressures as drivers.