Florida Among States Spending The Most On Groceries, New Ranking Says

Florida is among the U.S. states where residents spend the most on groceries, according to a new ranking from finance website WalletHub.

Grocery prices have surged in recent years, increasing by nearly 30% since 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Meanwhile, income growth hasn’t kept pace with these rising costs, according to WalletHub's study, making groceries less affordable and forcing households to spend a larger share of their earnings on food.

To determine the states where residents spend the most and the least on groceries, WalletHub analyzed the prices of 26 commonly purchased grocery items across all 50 states. Researchers then totaled these costs and compared them to each state’s median household income to identify where residents devote the largest percentage of their income to groceries.

According to WalletHub's ranking, Florida almost cracked the top 10, ranking 11th among states where residents spend the most on groceries. In Florida, residents on average devote 2.16% of their monthly income to groceries.

Here's a look at the top 10 states where residents spend the most on groceries:

1. Mississippi
2. West Virginia
3. Arkansas
4. Louisiana
5. Kentucky
6. Alabama
7. New Mexico
8. Oklahoma
9. South Carolina
10. Tennessee

“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," WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo said. "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 earningsthan people in states with more expensive products.”

On the other hand, residents of these states spend the least on groceries, according to WalletHub's study:

1. Massachusetts
2. New Jersey
3. Maryland
4. New Hampshire
5. Utah
6. Connecticut
7. Colorado
8. Virginia
9. Washington
10. California

To make sure that you can afford the groceries you need, it’s important to learn how to make a budget, WalletHub recommends. When creating a budget, groceries should be one of the first items for which money is set aside for. Shoppers can also consider cutting back on luxury foods if their budgets are tight and instead focus on less costly staples.

See the full ranking at WalletHub.com.