Most and Least Expensive Supermarkets

Grocery inflation has hit Brianna Stangarone right in the lasagna pan. The imported pecorino Romano cheese she has always used to make her signature dish has become so expensive that the Irvington, N.Y., teacher recently switched to a domestic substitute. She has also downloaded three grocery apps to help her find the best price for her favorite pasta brand. And she’s become used to making sacrifices she hadn’t considered before. “If something’s too expensive and it’s not a necessity,” she says, “I leave it behind.”

Like Stangarone, you’ve probably found yourself navigating a new normal at the grocery store. The prices of dairy, beef, and pork products are at or near record highs. Coffee is up an eye-opening 20 percent since a year ago. And across the board, food prices rose 25.5 percent between December 2020 and December 2024, according to an analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Fortunately, unlike other budget areas where prices have risen in recent years—think insurance and auto repairs—a little bit of strategic planning can save a cartload of money, and you and your family can still eat very well.

One effective strategy is simply shopping at the right stores. Most Americans buy food from at least two retailers each week. But which ones you choose can have a big impact on your overall spending, according to research we commissioned from the Strategic Resource Group (SRG), a retail- and grocery-industry market research company in New York.

When SRG compared prices on baskets of commonly purchased items at mainstream grocery chains in six regionally representative cities across the U.S., the difference between the highest- and lowest-priced in each city was more than 33 percent. And when the comparison included the warehouse clubs like Costco and specialty grocers like Whole Foods, the price differences were even more significant.

Grocery chains with the largest market shares in those six metropolitan areas, including a handful of warehouse clubs and specialty grocers, are ranked below from least expensive to most expensive relative to Walmart, the largest and most ubiquitous grocery retailer in the U.S.

The comparisons were based on the total price of grocery baskets that included packaged goods, produce, and meat, but differed in size depending on which items were available in each store. The comparisons were most robust for mainstream retailers carrying a wide selection of identical national-brand goods that could be compared across supermarkets. The comparison baskets were smaller for the stores that focus on private-label brands or specialty goods, which have fewer items in common with Walmart, our baseline retailer. 

For example, in the Chicago-area analysis, baskets comparing prices at Food4Less, Jewel-Osco, Marianos, Meijer, Target, and Walmart all contained 56 items. By contrast, baskets comparing Trader Joe’s prices to Walmart’s in Chicago contained 23 items.

The first tab, “National Average,” shows the retailers’ pricing relative to Walmart prices, averaged across the six metro areas. The next tab, “By Metro Area (All),” shows the pricing comparisons in each of the six metro areas separately. The third tab, “By Metro Area (Select One),” shows pricing comparisons in one metro area of your choice at a time.

Price comparisons were conducted for CR by the Strategic Resource Group, a consultancy in New York. Prices were collected in person from store shelves in late summer 2025. Within metro areas, all prices were collected within a 48-hour period. The amounts shown reflect sale prices and discounts available to shoppers using free store loyalty cards but don’t reflect manufacturer coupons or savings available only through smartphone apps.

Clarification: This article, originally published Feb. 2, 2026, has been updated to clarify that the price-comparison baskets were significantly larger for mainstream supermarkets that carry a wide selection of national-brand goods than for retailers that focus on private-label brands or specialty goods.

Editor’s Note: A version of this article also appeared in the January/February 2026 issue of Consumer Reports magazine.