After shaking up the 2024 presidential race, grocery costs are as soon as once more making headlines, this time in New York Metropolis’s mayoral contest.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist who declared victory final week within the metropolis’s ranked selection Democratic main, has vowed to construct “city-owned grocery stores” targeted on “keeping prices low, not making a profit.”
Mamdani argues that “without having to pay rent or property taxes, they will reduce overhead and pass on savings to shoppers.”
The thought has drawn criticism from each the political Proper and Left, however it underscores how central on a regular basis cost-of-living considerations stay for voters.
In Could, grocery costs in U.S. cities had been up 2.2 p.c in comparison with a yr earlier, in accordance with the newest Client Value Index. That is a significant enchancment from the 13.5 p.c spike in August 2022, the most important 12-month enhance in over forty years. Nonetheless, the injury has added up.
Because the begin of 2020, grocery costs have climbed over 28 p.c, a pointy rise that is reshaped Individuals’ family budgets and pushed extra households towards financing choices like purchase now, pay later for on a regular basis necessities.
However a latest evaluation of presidency information discovered that the extent of ache — and aid — has diversified from metropolis to metropolis over the previous yr.
Private finance website SmartAsset examined grocery value adjustments throughout 12 U.S. metropolitan areas from March 2024 to March 2025 and located stark regional variations.
Which cities are seeing grocery costs rise quickest?
The Honolulu metro space noticed a 5.3 p.c enhance in grocery costs over the interval, the very best among the many metros studied. That is not totally stunning, given Hawaii’s geographic isolation and reliance on imports.
Subsequent on the record was the Tampa metro space, the place grocery costs rose 4.3 p.c between March 2024 to March 2025. That is no outlier, in accordance with a latest USDA report, which discovered the Florida space had the very best common annual enhance in grocery costs amongst main metros from 2015 to 2024.
SmartAsset’s research additionally revealed variations between meals classes. Within the Los Angeles Metro space, costs for egg, meat and poultry jumped 9.8 p.c, whereas vegetables and fruit truly turned extra inexpensive (-1.8 p.c) from a yr earlier.
In the meantime, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, fruit and vegetable costs rose 6.9 p.c, whereas will increase for eggs and meat had been extra modest at 4.8 p.c.
Are cities seeing decrease grocery costs?
Solely two of the 12 metros SmartAsset analyzed noticed grocery costs fall year-over-year: Dallas (-0.1 p.c) and Boston (-0.7 p.c).
Each cities noticed notable declines within the costs of vegetables and fruit in comparison with a yr earlier.
Whereas grocery costs nonetheless rose total, Riverside, Calif. (2.3 p.c), Washington, D.C. (1.9 p.c), Denver (1.9 p.c) and Chicago (1.5 p.c) all noticed will increase beneath the two.4 p.c common throughout U.S. cities from March 2024 to March 2025.
This is how 12 metro areas rank based mostly on the rise in grocery costs between March 2024 and March 2025, in accordance with SmartAsset.
12 – Boston
Boston Skyline (Getty Photos)
Metro: Boston-Cambridge-Newton
Groceries: -0.7 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 5.7 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -6.1 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 0.4 p.c
11 – Dallas
View of the Dallas skyline on July 21, 2020, in Dallas, Texas. (VALERIE MACON/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Dallas-Fort Value-Arlington
Groceries: -0.1 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 2.1 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -5.6 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: -0.5 p.c
10 – Chicago
Chicago skyline (Getty Photos)
Metro: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
Groceries: 1.5 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 8.6 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -3.1 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: -1.7 p.c
9 – Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Capitol is seen, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Picture/Rahmat Gul)
Metro: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
Groceries: 1.9 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 9.4 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -3.1 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 7.9 p.c
8 – Denver
Sundown on the Denver skyline wanting west in the direction of the Rocky Mountains. (Picture by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Denver-Aurora-Lakewood
Groceries: 1.9 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 9.2 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -4.0 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 2.3 p.c
7 – Riverside, Calif.
Over the past week of the vacations, Southern Californians get pleasure from ice skating on a short lived rink with the festive Mission Inn adorned within the background on December 30, 2024, in Riverside, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Riverside, CA
Groceries: 2.3 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 8.5 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -1.7 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 1.9 p.c
6 – Los Angeles
The downtown Los Angeles skyline is seen on New 12 months’s Eve, December 31, 2021. (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Los Angeles-Lengthy Seashore-Anaheim
Groceries: 2.9 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 9.8 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -1.8 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 0.2 p.c
5 – New York Metropolis
The complete moon rises above the skyline of New York Metropolis and the Statue of Liberty because the solar units forward of a complete lunar eclipse on March 13 as seen from Jersey Metropolis, New Jersey. (Picture by Gary Hershorn/Getty Photos)
Metro: New York-Newark-Jersey Metropolis
Groceries: 3.3 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 8.9 p.c
Fruit and veggies: -1.3 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 0.3 p.c
4 – San Diego
A full moon is pictured over the San Diego skyline. (Getty Photos)
Metro: San Diego-Carlsbad
Groceries: 3.7 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 7.1 p.c
Fruit and veggies: 3.3 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 1.7 p.c
3 – Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Skyline exhibiting the Mississippi river and US Financial institution Stadium within the fall. (Picture by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
Groceries: 4.2 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 4.8 p.c
Fruit and veggies: 6.9 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 2.0 p.c
2 – Tampa, Fla.
Aerial drone View of sprawling Tampa Bay Skyline, Florida. (Picture by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Common Photos Group by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
Groceries: 4.3 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 7.8 p.c
Fruit and veggies: 0.2 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 5.3 p.c
1 – Honolulu
File picture – A view of the skyline and the seaside of the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu. (Picture by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Metro: Honolulu
Groceries: 5.3 p.c
Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 4.9 p.c
Fruit and veggies: 6.4 p.c
Cereals and bakery merchandise: 6.5 p.c
