Spending more on groceries? These graphs show how much basic food prices have risen

Shaun Goodwin
·2 min read
25

Eating out has typically been a costlier endeavor than enjoying a meal at home for many Americans over the last decade.

From the 1970s and through the 2000s, food-at-home and food-away-from-home prices maintained a reasonably steady price increase compared to one another, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Price Outlook.

But from 2009, there was a divergence from the trend, with food-at-home (food bought in a grocery store) prices slowing down and even deflating in 2016 and 2017, while food-away-from-home (food purchased from a restaurant) prices continued to rise.

But in 2020, that trend flipped, according to the report. Food-at-home prices increased by 3.5% compared to the 3.4% increase for food-away-from-home prices.

Between March 2021 and March 2022, food-at-home prices increased by 10%, with only a 6.9% uptick for food-away-from-home.

As grocery store food prices continue to increase, the following graphs show how much food-at-home prices have increased for some of the most basic necessities in a household, such as bread, eggs and sugar.

Each graph compares the price from April 2019 to April 2022 unless otherwise noted. All data is from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bread

White bread has increased from $1.29 to $1.61, and whole wheat bread has risen from $1.95 to $2.15. That’s a 24.8% and 9.7% increase, respectively.

Eggs

A dozen of grade A large eggs have risen from $1.46 to $2.52, a 72.6% increase.

Sugar

The price of sugar per pound has increased from 59 to 74 cents, a 25.4% increase.

Coffee

A pound of 100% ground-roasted coffee cost $4.17 in October 2019, which is the furthest back data available. The same pound of ground-roasted coffee will now cost you around $5.53, increasing 32.6%.

Butter

Butter decreased in price between April 2019 and November 2020 before rising again. A stick of butter in April 2019 cost $4.02 and now costs $4.15, a rise of just 3.2%. But compared to November 2020’s price of $3.33, it has increased by 24.6%.

Potatoes

Potato prices rose in the summer of 2020 before falling again, but April 2019’s price of 75 cents for a pound of potatoes is still cheaper than the 85 cents it costs now, for an increase of 13.3%.

Boneless chicken breast

The cost for a pound of boneless chicken breast has risen by over a dollar, from $3.01 to $4.10, a 36.2% increase.