After shaking up the 2024 presidential race, grocery prices are as soon as once more making headlines, this time in New York City’s mayoral contest.
Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old democratic socialist who declared victory last week within the metropolis’s ranked alternative Democratic major, has vowed to build “city-owned grocery shops” centered on “protecting costs low, not making a revenue.”
Mamdani argues that “with out having to pay hire or property taxes, they’ll cut back overhead and cross on financial savings to customers.”
The concept has drawn criticism from each the political Right and Left, nevertheless it underscores how central on a regular basis cost-of-living considerations stay for voters.
In Could, grocery costs in U.S. cities have been up 2.2 % in comparison with a yr earlier, in line with the concert Consumer Price Index. That is a serious enchancment from the 13.5 % spike in August 2022, the most important 12-month enhance in over forty years. Nonetheless, the injury has added up.
For the reason that begin of 2020, grocery costs have climbed over 28 %, a pointy rise that is reshaped People’ household budgets and pushed extra households towards financing choices like buy now, pay later for on a regular basis necessities.
However a recent analysis of presidency information discovered that the extent of ache — and aid — has various from metropolis to metropolis over the previous yr.
Private finance web site SmartAsset examined grocery worth 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 % enhance in grocery costs over the interval, the best among the many metros studied. That is not solely shocking, 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 % between March 2024 to March 2025. That is no outlier, in line with a recent USDA report, which discovered the Florida space had the 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 %, whereas vegatables and fruits really grew to become extra inexpensive (-1.8 %) from a yr earlier.
In the meantime, in Minneapolis-St. Paul, fruit and vegetable costs rose 6.9 %, whereas will increase for eggs and meat have been extra modest at 4.8 %.
Are cities seeing decrease grocery costs?
Solely two of the 12 metros SmartAsset analyzed noticed grocery costs fall year-over-year: Dallas (-0.1 %) and Boston (-0.7 %).
Each cities noticed notable declines within the costs of vegatables and fruits in comparison with a yr earlier.
Whereas grocery costs nonetheless rose general, Riverside, Calif. (2.3 %), Washington, D.C. (1.9 %), Denver (1.9 %) and Chicago (1.5 %) all noticed will increase beneath the 2.4 percent average throughout U.S. cities from March 2024 to March 2025.
Here is how 12 metro areas rank primarily based on the rise in grocery costs between March 2024 and March 2025, in line with SmartAsset.
12 – Boston
Boston Skyline (Getty Photos)
Metro: Boston-Cambridge-Newton
- Groceries: -0.7 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 5.7 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -6.1 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 0.4 %
11 – Dallas
View of the Dallas skyline on July 21, 2020, in Dallas, Texas. (VALERIE MACON/AFP through Getty Photos)
Metro: Dallas-Fort Price-Arlington
- Groceries: -0.1 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 2.1 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -5.6 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: -0.5 %
10 – Chicago
Chicago skyline (Getty Photos)
Metro: Chicago-Naperville-Elgin
- Groceries: 1.5 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 8.6 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -3.1 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: -1.7 %
9 – Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Capitol is seen, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photograph/Rahmat Gul)
Metro: Washington-Arlington-Alexandria
- Groceries: 1.9 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 9.4 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -3.1 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 7.9 %
8 – Denver
Sundown on the Denver skyline trying west in the direction of the Rocky Mountains. (Photograph by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Common Photos Group through Getty Photos)
Metro: Denver-Aurora-Lakewood
- Groceries: 1.9 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 9.2 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -4.0 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 2.3 %
7 – Riverside, Calif.
Over the last week of the vacations, Southern Californians get pleasure from ice skating on a short lived rink with the festive Mission Inn embellished within the background on December 30, 2024, in Riverside, Calif. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Instances through Getty Photos)
Metro: Riverside, CA
- Groceries: 2.3 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 8.5 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -1.7 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 1.9 %
6 – Los Angeles
The downtown Los Angeles skyline is seen on New 12 months’s Eve, December 31, 2021. (CHRIS DELMAS/AFP through Getty Photos)
Metro: Los Angeles-Lengthy Seashore-Anaheim
- Groceries: 2.9 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 9.8 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -1.8 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 0.2 %
5 – New York Metropolis
The total 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. (Photograph by Gary Hershorn/Getty Photos)
Metro: New York-Newark-Jersey Metropolis
- Groceries: 3.3 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 8.9 %
- Vegatables and fruits: -1.3 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 0.3 %
4 – San Diego
A full moon is pictured over the San Diego skyline. (Getty Photos)
Metro: San Diego-Carlsbad
- Groceries: 3.7 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 7.1 %
- Vegatables and fruits: 3.3 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 1.7 %
3 – Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Skyline exhibiting the Mississippi river and US Financial institution Stadium within the fall. (Photograph by: Michael Siluk/UCG/Common Photos Group through Getty Photos)
Metro: Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington
- Groceries: 4.2 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 4.8 %
- Vegatables and fruits: 6.9 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 2.0 %
2 – Tampa, Fla.
Aerial drone View of sprawling Tampa Bay Skyline, Florida. (Photograph by: Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Common Photos Group through Getty Photos)
Metro: Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater
- Groceries: 4.3 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 7.8 %
- Vegatables and fruits: 0.2 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 5.3 %
1 – Honolulu
File photograph – A view of the skyline and the seaside of the Waikiki neighborhood of Honolulu. (Photograph by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP through Getty Photos)
Metro: Honolulu
- Groceries: 5.3 %
- Eggs, meats, poultry and fish: 4.9 %
- Vegatables and fruits: 6.4 %
- Cereals and bakery merchandise: 6.5 %