Grocery prices
What food costs, tracked.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics prices the nation's groceries every month. Here is its Consumer Price Index for each food category, and one familiar recipe, a homemade loaf, added up at the same national average prices through the year.
Food prices by category
The Consumer Price Index follows what urban households pay for food, split the way the BLS splits it: the six groups of food bought for home, and food away from home. Each month's release shows the change over the month and over the year.
As of September 2026, food at home is +1.8% over the year and food away from home +3.5%.
- All items, past 12 months
- +3.7%
- +0.6% over the month
- Food, past 12 months
- +2.5%
- 0.0% over the month
Price change by category, September 2026, against the same month a year ago.
- Prices rose
- Prices fell
- Food at home, the grocery average
| Category | Index | 1 month | 12 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food at home | 321.8 | −0.1% | +1.8% |
| Cereals and bakery products | 369.6 | +0.1% | +2.1% |
| Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs | 350.7 | −0.5% | +0.3% |
| Dairy and related products | 269.6 | −0.9% | −0.7% |
| Fruits and vegetables | 371.3 | +0.5% | +3.7% |
| Nonalcoholic beverages | 240.0 | +0.9% | +3.8% |
| Other food at home | 282.6 | −0.2% | +1.8% |
| Food away from home | 398.8 | +0.2% | +3.5% |
Index levels are 1982–84 = 100, U.S. city average, all urban consumers. The 12-month change is from the unadjusted index and the one-month change from the seasonally adjusted index, as the BLS reports them. The six indented groups together make up food at home; ▲ marks a rise and ▼ a fall.
The bread index
Our bread index adds up the ingredients it takes to bake one loaf at home — flour, milk, butter, sugar, and an egg — valued at the government's national average grocery prices. Follow the line through the year, and one familiar recipe tells the whole cost story.
Ingredients for one loaf
$1.06
Bakes one loaf, net wt. 20 oz (567 g) — the same size as the store-bought loaf below.
▼ down 5.5% since January 2026.
- Flour 3 cups (375 g)
- $0.45
- Milk ¾ cup
- $0.19
- Butter 1½ tablespoons
- $0.19
- Egg 1 egg
- $0.19
- Sugar 1½ tablespoons
- $0.04
- Recipe total one 20 oz loaf
- $1.06
- Store-bought loaf 20 oz at the national average
- $2.29
- Per ounce, homemade vs. store-bought
- $0.05 vs. $0.11
Yeast, salt, and water finish the recipe — the BLS doesn't track their prices, and they add only a few cents. Every figure here is the BLS U.S. City Average.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (CPI-U, U.S. city average) and Average Retail Food Prices (U.S. city average). Figures through September 2026.
Know what your family actually needs.
Prices tell you what food costs; the free Health Report tells you what each person at your table needs — five minutes, no account, anonymous by design.