Grocery Store Prices and Inflation

Overall grocery prices were unchanged in February after rising by 0.4% in January, according to data published March 12 by the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). They advanced by 1% from a year earlier, compared to 1.2% previously.

The BLS surveys food prices as part of its Consumer Price Index (view CPI data), which measures U.S. inflation at the consumer level. Food inflation is based on prices for "food at home" items (supermarket or grocery store prices) and "food away from home" items (foodservice or restaurant purchases). Recently, food inflation increased by 2.2% year-over-year, compared to a previous rate increase of 2.6%.

The information on the rest of this page focuses on the grocery component of food inflation.

Chart: Annual Change in Grocery Prices (Grocery Prices Inflation)

The following chart shows the change in grocery prices by calendar year since 2000. For 2024, it displays the change in grocery prices from February 2023 to February 2024.

Chart: Grocery Prices by Month and Year

The following chart shows the changes in prices for select grocery store foods from January 2016 through February 2024. Simply hover over the chart to view the data, or select a food’s legend key located at the right of the chart to visually highlight the selected food’s line in the chart and easily track its pricing over the years.

Table: Inflation Rates for Groceries (Percent Change in Grocery Prices 1948-2024)

The following table displays "food at home" inflation on an annual basis, listed by month and calendar year. In clearer terms, it shows the percent increase or decrease in grocery prices over the listed periods. As the figures are based on 12-month periods, please refer to the December column to find the overall change in food prices for each calendar year. The last column, labeled "Ave," shows the average inflation rate for groceries for each year.

Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Ave
1948 13.9 12.3 6.3 10.8 12.4 12.2 12.0 10.3 5.9 4.8 2.2 -1.1 8.5
1949 -2.2 -2.6 0.0 -2.5 -3.9 -4.6 -6.9 -6.6 -5.2 -5.3 -3.3 -3.7 -3.9
1950 -4.4 -2.3 -2.6 -2.6 -1.5 -0.7 3.3 3.7 2.9 5.2 5.2 9.5 1.5
1951 13.4 15.8 14.9 14.4 13.9 11.9 9.4 7.9 8.2 8.9 9.6 7.6 11.0
1952 4.7 0.7 1.0 2.0 1.7 2.0 3.0 4.0 2.6 1.3 0.6 -1.3 1.7
1953 -1.9 -1.3 -1.3 -2.6 -2.3 -0.6 -2.2 -2.2 -1.6 -1.6 -3.2 -1.6 -1.6
1954 -0.3 0.7 0.0 0.7 1.0 -0.3 0.3 -0.7 -2.0 -2.0 -1.3 -2.3 -0.7
1955 -3.0 -2.0 -1.7 -1.7 -2.6 -2.6 -2.6 -3.0 -1.0 -1.7 -1.7 -1.0 -2.0
1956 -1.7 -2.4 -2.0 -1.7 -0.3 1.7 2.3 1.7 1.3 2.4 3.1 2.7 0.3
1957 3.5 4.5 3.8 3.8 3.1 2.3 2.3 4.3 3.3 2.7 2.3 3.0 3.4
1958 5.0 4.7 7.3 7.3 6.6 4.9 3.5 2.2 2.9 2.9 3.3 1.9 4.6
1959 0.3 -0.6 -3.4 -4.3 -4.3 -3.1 -2.8 -2.8 -2.2 -1.9 -2.2 -1.3 -2.5
1960 -1.9 -1.6 -0.6 1.3 1.6 1.0 1.0 1.3 1.0 1.9 2.9 3.2 1.0
1961 3.2 3.6 3.2 1.6 0.6 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.3 -0.3 -1.6 -1.6 1.0
1962 -0.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.6 0.6 0.0 0.6 2.2 1.6 2.2 1.3 0.6
1963 1.9 1.6 0.9 0.6 0.6 1.6 2.5 2.2 0.3 0.3 0.9 1.6 1.3
1964 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.2 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.9 1.5 2.2 1.5 1.5 0.9
1965 0.6 0.3 0.9 1.5 2.5 4.0 3.6 3.0 2.4 2.1 2.4 3.6 2.4
1966 4.9 6.7 7.3 7.0 5.4 3.2 2.9 5.3 5.6 5.6 4.7 3.2 5.1
1967 2.0 0.0 -0.9 -1.7 -0.9 0.0 0.3 -0.6 -1.1 -1.1 -0.6 0.3 -0.3
1968 1.4 2.0 2.9 3.7 4.0 3.1 3.1 2.8 3.4 4.3 4.0 4.0 3.4
1969 3.9 3.6 3.3 3.6 3.9 5.2 5.5 5.7 6.0 4.6 6.0 7.1 4.7
1970 7.0 7.6 7.3 6.7 6.7 5.0 4.7 3.9 3.6 4.2 2.6 1.3 5.0
1971 0.5 0.5 1.5 2.5 2.3 3.0 3.0 3.2 2.5 2.5 3.3 4.3 2.5
1972 4.3 5.8 5.0 3.7 3.2 3.2 3.6 3.9 4.9 5.1 5.9 5.1 4.4
1973 7.7 8.0 11.1 13.2 14.5 15.5 15.1 23.4 21.6 21.1 21.4 22.0 16.4
1974 21.3 22.3 19.7 16.9 16.6 15.1 13.9 7.7 10.9 12.1 12.1 12.4 14.9
1975 11.1 8.1 6.7 7.3 7.1 8.7 12.1 9.8 7.7 7.7 6.9 6.2 8.2
1976 5.5 4.5 3.7 4.2 4.1 2.8 0.5 1.1 1.0 0.2 -0.6 -0.8 2.1
1977 0.3 3.6 5.3 6.2 6.2 6.8 6.6 6.8 6.8 6.7 8.0 7.9 5.9
1978 8.6 7.5 8.2 9.0 10.5 11.4 11.4 11.0 11.4 12.5 11.9 12.5 10.5
1979 13.3 13.9 13.6 12.3 11.3 9.6 9.7 9.0 9.6 9.2 9.2 9.7 10.8
1980 7.8 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.6 5.8 6.9 9.5 10.4 10.4 11.1 10.5 8.1
1981 10.4 10.7 10.3 9.5 8.5 8.4 7.9 6.4 5.5 4.7 3.4 2.9 7.2
1982 3.6 4.0 3.1 3.4 4.6 5.2 4.1 2.9 2.7 2.7 2.7 2.3 3.5
1983 1.4 0.8 1.7 2.0 1.4 0.1 0.0 0.6 0.6 1.0 1.1 1.8 1.0
1984 3.9 4.7 4.0 3.3 2.4 3.0 3.5 4.2 3.9 3.9 3.8 3.6 3.7
1985 2.1 1.7 1.7 1.7 2.0 1.6 1.3 0.5 0.7 0.6 1.5 2.0 1.5
1986 2.2 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.9 1.9 3.1 4.4 4.6 4.8 4.5 3.7 2.9
1987 4.1 5.0 4.8 5.1 5.6 6.2 4.5 3.3 3.5 3.4 2.9 3.5 4.3
1988 3.1 2.4 2.7 3.0 2.8 2.8 4.6 5.4 5.9 5.9 5.9 5.6 4.2
1989 6.2 7.1 7.7 7.8 8.1 7.3 6.4 5.8 5.0 5.4 6.0 6.2 6.5
1990 8.1 8.3 7.5 6.2 5.2 6.0 6.2 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.4 5.8 6.5
1991 4.1 2.7 3.1 4.5 4.6 4.3 2.6 1.7 1.5 0.7 0.9 1.3 2.6
1992 0.0 0.7 1.1 0.3 -0.5 -0.9 -0.2 1.5 1.9 2.1 1.5 1.5 0.7
1993 2.0 1.8 1.4 1.9 3.3 2.4 2.5 2.0 1.9 2.6 3.1 3.5 2.4
1994 3.4 2.5 2.4 2.1 1.6 2.6 3.5 3.6 3.6 2.8 2.8 3.5 2.9
1995 3.1 3.7 3.4 4.3 4.0 3.6 2.9 2.6 2.9 3.4 3.0 2.0 3.3
1996 2.5 2.4 3.3 2.7 2.6 3.6 4.0 4.3 4.5 4.7 5.2 4.9 3.7
1997 3.9 4.2 3.4 2.7 3.2 2.5 2.3 2.4 1.7 1.4 1.2 1.0 2.5
1998 2.0 1.5 1.6 1.7 2.0 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.6 2.2 2.1 2.1 1.9
1999 2.0 2.4 2.0 2.1 2.0 2.0 1.8 1.7 2.0 1.6 1.6 1.7 1.9
2000 1.2 1.5 1.8 1.8 2.2 2.2 2.8 2.9 2.7 2.4 2.2 2.9 2.3
2001 3.0 3.3 3.4 3.4 3.2 3.6 3.3 3.1 3.1 3.6 3.5 2.6 3.3
2002 2.9 2.4 2.5 2.4 1.6 1.0 0.7 0.4 0.5 -0.1 0.5 0.8 1.3
2003 0.3 0.9 0.8 0.5 1.3 2.2 2.1 2.7 2.8 3.7 3.9 4.5 2.2
2004 4.1 3.6 3.7 3.8 4.9 4.4 4.6 3.9 3.3 3.5 3.1 2.4 3.8
2005 2.7 2.2 2.1 3.1 2.0 1.4 1.4 1.5 2.1 1.5 1.5 1.7 1.9
2006 2.4 2.4 2.2 0.9 0.8 1.5 1.5 1.9 2.2 2.3 1.7 1.4 1.7
2007 1.7 2.9 3.4 3.9 4.4 4.6 4.6 4.7 4.7 4.7 5.4 5.6 4.2
2008 5.8 5.1 4.7 5.9 5.8 6.1 7.1 7.5 7.6 7.5 7.0 6.6 6.4
2009 5.7 4.8 4.3 2.3 1.5 0.8 -0.9 -1.6 -2.5 -2.8 -2.9 -2.4 0.5
2010 -2.0 -1.5 -0.7 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.7 0.8 1.4 1.4 1.7 1.7 0.3
2011 2.1 2.8 3.6 3.9 4.4 4.7 5.4 6.0 6.3 6.2 5.9 6.0 4.8
2012 5.3 4.5 3.6 3.3 2.7 2.6 1.9 1.5 0.8 1.0 1.3 1.3 2.5
2013 1.1 1.2 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.9 1.0 1.0 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.9
2014 0.5 0.9 1.4 1.7 2.7 2.4 2.7 2.9 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.7 2.4
2015 3.3 2.9 1.9 1.3 0.6 1.0 0.9 0.8 0.8 0.7 0.3 -0.4 1.2
2016 -0.5 -0.3 -0.5 -0.3 -0.7 -1.3 -1.6 -1.9 -2.2 -2.3 -2.2 -2.0 -1.3
2017 -1.9 -1.7 -0.9 -0.8 -0.2 -0.1 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.9 -0.2
2018 1.0 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.4 0.5 0.4 0.1 0.4 0.6 0.4
2019 0.6 1.2 1.4 0.7 1.2 0.9 0.6 0.5 0.6 1.0 1.0 0.7 0.9
2020 0.7 0.8 1.1 4.1 4.8 5.6 4.6 4.6 4.1 4.0 3.6 3.9 3.5
2021 3.7 3.5 3.3 1.2 0.7 0.9 2.6 3.0 4.5 5.4 6.4 6.5 3.5
2022 7.4 8.6 10.0 10.8 11.9 12.2 13.1 13.5 13.0 12.4 12.0 11.8
2023 11.3 10.2 8.4 7.1 5.8 4.7 3.6 3.0 2.4 2.1 1.7 1.3
2024 1.2 1.0 Avail.
April
10
                 

Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Food at home in U.S. city average, all urban consumers, not seasonally adjusted. Base Period: 1982-84=100.