Groceries as a whole
The consumer price index for food at home covers what households buy at the supermarket, excluding restaurant meals. It stood at 241.6 in January 2019 and 321.3 in August 2026, a rise of 33.0%. All items rose 32.3% over the same stretch, so groceries have run slightly ahead of prices in general.
The recent pace is calmer. From August 2025 to August 2026 food at home rose 2.1%, against 3.4% for all items. Grocery prices are no longer the main driver of the headline number.
Seven staples, then and now
■ Food at home CPI (Jan 2019 = 100) ■ All items CPI (Jan 2019 = 100)
| Item (BLS average price) | Jan 2019 | Aug 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milk, whole, per gallon | $2.91 | $4.23 | +45% |
| Ground beef, per lb | $3.80 | $6.92 | +82% |
| White bread, per lb | $1.27 | $1.82 | +43% |
| Chicken, whole, per lb | $1.47 | $2.01 | +37% |
| Bananas, per lb | $0.58 | $0.65 | +13% |
| Butter, per lb | $4.05 | $4.02 | -1% |
| Eggs, Grade A large, per dozen | $1.55 | $2.27 | +46% |
Worked example: a $200 weekly shop
Imagine a $200 weekly grocery bill in January 2019 and an identical basket today. At the food-at-home index it would cost about $266 a week, or $3,433 more over a year.
Assumptions: same items, same quantities, national average prices, no change in brand or store. Real baskets drift. People trade down to store brands, buy less beef and more chicken, or shop sales. The index does not know what you swapped. It prices a fixed basket.
Some of the increase also hides in packaging. Shrinkflation, where the same price buys a smaller pack, is widely reported* and does not always show up the way a sticker price does.
Averages, baskets and what you actually buy
The BLS food-at-home index is an index of a fixed type of basket. When beef rises, people buy less beef. When eggs spike, people bake less. The index registers the price of the fixed basket, so it can overstate what a household that adjusts really paid, and it can understate what a household with fewer options paid.*
The table of seven staples uses simple average prices per unit. It is not weighted by how much each item matters in a household's budget. Milk and bread are bought almost every week, bananas and butter less so, and beef varies by diet. That is why the right comparison is the item list you buy, not the national table.
A practical way to use this post: write down five items you buy every week, find their price a year ago on an old receipt or a grocery app history, and compute the change. Compare it with the 2.1% national figure for the last 12 months. If yours is higher, you are buying items that rose faster than average, or you moved to a pricier store.
What this means for your wallet
The spread inside the table matters more than the average. Ground beef at $6.92 a pound, up from $3.80, costs far more than butter, which sits at $4.02 against $4.05. A household that eats a lot of beef has a very different personal inflation rate from one that does not.
Practical read: if your bill is up more than 33% since early 2019 for the same food, you are paying above the national average. If it is up less, possible reasons include that you changed what you buy, where you shop or the size of packs, or that prices in your area moved differently from the national average.
Run it with your own numbers
Spot the products where the price held but the package shrank with Shrinkflation Checker. Free, runs in your browser, nothing you type leaves the page.
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Common questions
How much have grocery prices increased since 2019?
The BLS food-at-home CPI rose +33.0% from January 2019 to August 2026.
Are grocery prices still rising?
Yes, but slowly: +2.1% over the 12 months to August 2026, below the +3.4% for all items.
Which grocery items rose the most?
In the BLS items shown here, ground beef rose most (+82%). Butter was flat and bananas rose about +13%.
Does the CPI count shrinkflation?
The BLS says it adjusts for changes in package size, so a smaller pack at the same price registers as a price rise.* We did not verify the details of the method for this post.
Keep reading
How much have egg prices gone up since 2019?Are wages keeping up with inflation in 2026?All free money toolsSources
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI: Food at Home in U.S. City Average, seasonally adjusted, series CUSR0000SAF11, via FRED (fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUSR0000SAF11), retrieved October 4, 2026.
- BLS Average Price Data, US city average, series APU0000709112 (milk), APU0000703112 (ground beef), APU0000702111 (bread), APU0000706111 (chicken), APU0000711211 (bananas), APU0000FS1101 (butter), APU0000708111 (eggs), via FRED, retrieved October 4, 2026.
Notes
- * Reports of widespread shrinkflation and the BLS practice of adjusting for package-size changes are commonly stated. They were not independently verified for this post. See the BLS CPI methodology pages for the current rules.
- Educational only, not financial advice. Figures are historical and are not a promise of future results. Where a statement or number carries a *, it could not be independently checked against a primary source today: check current sources before relying on it.