Study: The states that spend the most — and least — on groceries are...
Consumers in Southern states spend the most on groceries, while those in the Northeast spend the least.
That’s according to a new analysis from WalletHub, which analyzed the prices of 26 commonly purchased grocery items across all 50 states. WalletHub then totaled these costs and compared them with each state’s median household income to identify where residents shell out the largest portion of their income to groceries.
Mississippi (2.60%), West Virginia (2.54%) and Arkansas (2.44%) were the states that topped the list with the greatest share of median monthly household going towards groceries, followed by Louisiana (2.38%), Kentucky (2.37%) and Alabama (2.33%).
Of the 10 states that spend the most, only one state, New Mexico, was located outside of the south. The findings are very similar to WalletHub's analysis from last year.
The states that spend the least on groceries include several more affluent, coastal states. Massachusetts and New Jersey residents spend the least (1.51%), followed by those in Maryland (1.55%), New Hampshire (1.56%), Utah (1.58%) and Connecticut (1.61%).
WalletHub noted for the top three states that spend the most, low incomes are the common denominator:
•Mississippi: “The main problem lies in the fact that Mississippi has the lowest median annual household income in the United States, at just $54,915. Even with relatively low grocery prices overall, Mississippians are spending a higher percentage of their income on groceries than people in any other state.”
•West Virginia: “West Virginia also has the second-lowest median household income in the country, at $57,917 per year. Also, there are a few major grocery categories that are more expensive in West Virginia than in most other states. For example, it has the 14th-highest egg prices, the 17th-highest potato prices and the eighth-highest sugar prices in the country.”
•Arkansas: “Like the other high-spending states, Arkansas has a low median household income, at only $58,773 per year, the third-lowest in the country. Even the fifth-cheapest groceries in the country don’t stop people from having to spend a large portion of their income. Arkansas ranks among the 10 least-expensive states for twenty types of goods in our study, including chicken, potato chips, corn flakes, frozen meals and sausage.”
[READ MORE: Consumer sentiment inches up in February to highest level since August]
“While grocery prices have gone up tremendously in recent years, the states in which people spend the greatest percentage of their income on groceries actually aren’t those with the highest prices,” said Chip Lupo, WalletHub writer and analyst. “Instead, the median incomes in these states are quite low, so even with reasonable grocery prices, residents end up shelling out a higher percentage of their earnings than people in states with more expensive products.”
Data used to create the WalletHub ranking were collected as of Jan. 15, 2026 from the Council for Community and Economic Research and U.S. Census Bureau. The full report can be found here.
