Walmart Grocery Prices Increased by 20.43% Between March 2023 and March 2024

Inflation in the United States has been steadily going down over the past year, reaching 3.2% in February 2024. Despite the slower increase in prices compared to 2022, groceries are still more expensive now than they were last year. Moreover, the average family in the U.S. is estimated to pay about 25% more for groceries than it did before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Driven by the persistent inflation in all consumer goods, the team at Tradingpedia decided to compare the prices of some of the most popular grocery items in March 2023 and March 2024. We chose 35 popular food items and checked their prices online at Walmart since it is the largest chain of grocery stores in the U.S. We found that most products in our virtual shopping cart have increased in price, with some now costing nearly 58% more than just a year ago.

Interestingly, in March 2023, the average weekly earnings could buy a person seven shopping carts full of those groceries. In 2024, one can afford only six if they earn the average wage.

Can wages keep up with the inflation in the U.S.?

In the United States, the consumer price index (CPI) reached a 41-year high of 9.1% in June 2022, the highest rate since November 1981. Since then, annual inflation has steadily decreased to around 3% (3.2% as of February 2024). The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects all food prices to rise by approximately 2.5% in 2024. The labor shortages, ongoing supply chain disruptions, and the Russian-Ukraine war, among many other factors, continue to escalate the cost of groceries.

Not all income groups are equally affected by the rising grocery prices. Households at the bottom of the income ladder have felt this pressure the most, as groceries, accounted for roughly 25% of their monthly budgets in 2022. On the other hand, less than 3.5% were allocated by families in the wealthiest decile for the same purpose, according to figures from the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED).

In 2014, the average weekly earnings of all American employees on a salary or wage stood at $843.85. We calculated that within ten years, the earnings have gradually gone up by 37.46%, rising 3.47% a year on average. In 2020, incomes saw the largest increase, around 5.38% from 2019. In February 2024, the average earnings were $1,185.75, an increase of 3.68% from the same period last year.

Between 2014 and 2023, the average annual inflation rate was 2.82%, while the cumulative one reached 28.2%, according to the CPI Inflation Calculator by the U.S. Bureau of Statistics. As of February 2024, annual inflation stands at 3.2%, a slight increase from 3.1% in the previous month.

However, the gap between earnings and food expenditures keeps growing, rather than declining, as every year, people tend to spend a larger portion of their budgets on groceries. According to the most recent report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the second largest increase in household spending in 2022 is for food. The average American household paid 12.7% more for meals at home in 2022 than the year before.

Price Change in Groceries at Walmart

We selected 35 of the most commonly purchased items across six categories based on Walmart’s classification and used the web archive to determine what they cost in 2023. Furthermore, we calculated the individual as well as the overall price increase.

The categories are as follows:

Meat & Seafood
Fruits and vegetables
Beverages
Condiments
Dairy & Eggs
Canned Foods

The 2023 shopping cart totals $167.93, while in March 2024, the total cost is $202.23, an increase of 20.43%.

The price change for individual items varies between -11.49% and a staggering 57.85%. The category with the highest price surge, of over 30% is Dairy & Milk, followed by Beverages (26%) in second place and Fruits & Vegetables (20%) in third.

Meat & Seafood

According to recent data, the U.S. is the second-largest consumer of meat per capita globally, with China taking the first place. So, the price increase of meat can greatly affect the average American grocery budget and overall shopping expenses.

On average, the prices of the five meat and seafood products we picked rose by 12.11% since 2023. The cost of a 5lb bag of chicken drumsticks went up the most, by 20.85%, while the price of hot dogs, an American staple, escalated by 12.85%.

Fruits & Vegetables

In 2022, only one in ten Americans met the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). Since 2023, prices of some of the most popular items such as asparagus, strawberries, and avocados have soared by up to 41%. This price increase could be one of the reasons why so many households reduce the amount of fruits and vegetables in their shopping carts and settle for the cheaper alternative of ready-to-cook, processed meals. The price of baby carrots surged the most out of the fruits and vegetables category, by 41%. Asparagus comes in second place now 30% pricier, while watermelons occupy the third position, with a price growth of almost 26%.

Beverages

The beverages included on our list saw a significant price increase of 25.73% since 2023. The CDC reports that about 63% of the U.S. population consumes sugar-sweetened beverages at least once a day, which puts a perspective on how common they are for the average American diet. The second-biggest price increase among all products we looked at is for a pack of FIJI’s Artesian water, which skyrocketed by 54.92%. A bottle of Walmart’s apple juice now costs 36.70% more, while a pack of Gatorade grew in price by 33.44%.

Condiments

Condiments kept relatively steady prices since 2023 with an average increase of just 14.38% overall. The only product that stands out as a bit pricier now is a 12oz bottle of dill relish, which rose by 32.39%. However, the ketchup and other American classics like ranch dressing and steak sauce rose by no more than 5.03%.

Eggs & Dairy

Eggs & Dairy recorded the largest total price increase over the previous year, rising by 31.19%. Additionally, since 2023, eggs have climbed in Walmart by an incredible 57.85%. The cost of cheese products also increased considerably, with American cheese (slices and shredded cheddar) jumping by 25.44% and cream cheese rising by 49.48%.

Canned foods

A well-stocked pantry with canned foods is a money-saving approach every household relies on. The prices of the most popular canned foods increased by 18.74% on average. Green beans, however, surged in price with a 40% spike, while sweet corn and diced tomatoes are about 20% more expensive this year.

Methodology

In order to conduct this comparison, the team at Tradingpedia created a list of 35 popular grocery products, over six categories (Meat & Seafood, Fruits & Vegetables, Beverages, Condiments, Dairy & Eggs, and Canned Foods) in Walmart. The analysis was based only on this particular supermarket chain since it holds the largest market share in the U.S.

To find out the price of each product in March 2023, the team searched for archived pages through the Internet Archive and compared the prices to the current ones in March 2024.

To gather the statistical data found in this report as additional sources of information we used the websites of Walmart and government bodies, namely, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, datasets from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.