Real grocery prices, tracked every day.
Published every month.
While official inflation data surveys a sample, we observe actual shelf prices across hundreds of U.S. grocery stores daily — and publish the index free for anyone to use, cite, or download.
National index by category
Chained matched-sample index — the same items at the same stores, month over month · August 2026 = 100
The line stops at the break on purpose. From August 2026 the item median is taken over distinct prices rather than every reading, so the index restarts at 100 instead of chaining through July. Joining the two would draw a month-over-month that measures the change of method, not a change in prices.
April–May 2026 reflect a smaller matched store panel and are provisional. Full details in the methodology.
September 2026 by category
BLS food-at-home groups · month-over-month change is matched-sample (price change only, never store-mix change)
| Category | MoM change | Index | Basket unit cost | Sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All food at home | +0.36% | 100.4 | $3.79 | 29,519 prices (94,654 readings) |
| Meats, poultry, fish & eggs | −1.16% | 98.8 | $5.27 | 11,197 prices (30,036 readings) |
| Dairy & related products | +1.42% | 101.4 | $3.24 | 6,218 prices (26,626 readings) |
| Fruits & vegetables | −2.43% | 97.6 | $1.89 | 709 prices (1,815 readings) |
| Cereals & bakery products | +2.03% | 102.0 | $2.97 | 2,526 prices (7,523 readings) |
| Nonalcoholic beverages | +3.79% | 103.8 | $7.49 | 7,808 prices (21,146 readings) |
| Other food at home | +0.65% | 100.6 | $2.49 | 1,061 prices (7,508 readings) |
Grocery prices by metro
All metro pagesWeighted basket unit cost, latest published month per metro
* The most recent month published for that metro, which is not always the newest month overall. A market can be behind because its sample didn't clear our minimum-sample thresholds — thin data is withheld, never estimated — or because a figure was withdrawn by a correction. The date under each bar is the month shown.
Each metro name opens its own page: local trend, category detail, and a comparison against the national index.
Prices went up again. Your grocery bill doesn't have to.
This index is built from the same live price data that powers GroceryChop — the free tool that compares your actual shopping list across every store near you and finds the cheapest basket.
Monthly releases
All releases →Use this data
Free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0). Suggested citation: GroceryChop Price Index, grocerychop.com/price-index