Here's What VA, DC Shoppers Like To Buy At Grocery Store

What do Virginia and Washington, D.C., residents like to buy at the grocery store? Data from the economic census, a comprehensive business survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau every five years, measures — among other things — the most popular grocery products sold in every state.

The Census Bureau released two infographics from the economic census that show what percentage of sales different grocery store products account for in the Commonwealth, District of Columbia, and across the country.

Overall in Virginia, meat and poultry accounted for 9.8 percent of total grocery store sales, making it the most popular product type. In second place, produce accounted for 9.2 percent of total grocery sales, making it the second most purchased product type. Dairy products accounted for 7.6 percent of total grocery store sales in Virginia.

Bottled canned or packaged soft drinks totaled 5.7 percent of total grocery store sales in the state, followed by frozen food at 4.7 percent of all sales; candy, cookies and snacks accounted for 4.4 percent; prescriptions came in at 3.9 percent; deli meats accounted for 3.5 percent of sales; beer and ale came in at 2.8 percent; and fish totaled 2.4 percent of sales for last place.

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In DC, produce accounts for 13.5 percent of total grocery sales, dairy products accounted for 9.9 percent of purchases, meat and poultry accounted for 7.7 percent, prescriptions are 3.6 percent, and beer and ale came in at 2.0 percent.

You can explore more via the Census' data visualizer here.

The Census Bureau says collection of data for the 2017 Economic Census began on May 1 and the data will be disseminated beginning in 2019.

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