Nearly half of grocery shoppers feel pressure with food costs

For the four weeks ending Sept. 5, 2026, Acosta Group’s Typical Stock-Up Trip, an 84-item basket of commonly purchased grocery and household essentials, cost $366.42, up 3.5% from the comparable period a year earlier.

Shopper Comfort Declines Despite Modest Wage Gains

Just over half of shoppers, 53%, now feel comfortable affording groceries and household essentials, down from 68% in January. That 15-percentage-point drop suggests modest economic gains have provided limited relief for households managing years of higher prices.

The second report in the series pairs Acosta Group’s measure of grocery purchasing power with proprietary shopper research to examine how affordability shapes consumer decisions. Median hourly earnings rose approximately 4.6% year over year in the second quarter, reducing the work time needed to purchase the basket from 11.84 hours to 11.72 hours, a gain of roughly seven minutes.

Still, the basket costs approximately 31% more than in the comparable four-week period of 2020, helping explain why incremental purchasing-power gains may be difficult for shoppers to feel. “The affordability recovery has reached a point where small gains in purchasing power are offering little breathing room for households,” said Colin Stewart, executive vice president of business intelligence at Acosta Group.

How Shoppers Adjust Spending Habits

Alongside the decline in shopper comfort, the share who felt uncomfortable affording groceries and household essentials rose from 17% in January to 26% in August. Housing, insurance, health care and other recurring expenses continue competing for household income, leaving grocery spending as an area where consumers can exercise more control through product choices, promotions and retailer selection.

Those adjustments are visible in the August shopper research. Looking back over the previous six months, 43% of shoppers said higher prices caused them to cut back on nonessentials, while 43% spent more time looking for deals. Another 38% bought more store brands and 35% shopped at stores with lower prices.

The outlook also remains cautious. In August, 47% of shoppers said they felt confident they could afford groceries and household needs over the next 12 months, while 34% were worried.

The tracker combines NIQ Discover basket pricing with U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics earnings data to measure the work hours required to purchase a typical stock-up trip. This update uses pricing through Sept. 5, 2026, and second-quarter earnings data, alongside Acosta Group Shopper Community research. It provides a national purchasing-power measure rather than an assessment of every household’s finances.

Shopper Behavior Shifts Amid Rising Essentials Costs

The findings show an affordability recovery that has largely stabilized, while shoppers continue adjusting where they shop and what they buy to manage essential spending.