Grocery affordability is shaped by both the price of food and the resources available to buy it. In the United States, December 2025 USDA food-plan benchmarks ranged from $159.70 to $472.90 per month for selected people in a four-person household, while 13.7% of households experienced food insecurity at some point during 2024. The figures below show how affordability differs by household type, income, race, geography, and food category.
Table of contents
- USDA monthly grocery cost benchmarks
- Food security and household affordability
- Differences by income and household characteristics
- Geographic differences in food insecurity
- Recent 30-day food hardship
- Price changes across grocery categories
USDA monthly grocery cost benchmarks
The USDA’s Official Food Plans estimate monthly food-at-home costs at three spending levels. The December 2025 figures below apply to a four-person household and provide benchmarks for planning, not a guarantee of what every household will spend. The food plans are organized by age and sex, so the cost of a household depends on its specific mix of people.
For a 1-year-old child, the December 2025 monthly estimate was $159.70 under the low-cost plan, $180.00 under the moderate-cost plan, and $218.30 under the liberal plan. For children ages 2–3, the corresponding estimates were $167.50, $200.50, and $243.90.
The estimates increased for children ages 4–5. The low-cost plan was $173.50 per month, the moderate-cost plan was $214.10, and the liberal plan was $259.40. For a child age 6–8, the three estimates were $255.00, $295.30, and $345.40 per month.
| Person in a four-person household | Low-cost plan | Moderate-cost plan | Liberal plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Child age 1 | $159.70 | $180.00 | $218.30 |
| Child age 2–3 | $167.50 | $200.50 | $243.90 |
| Child age 4–5 | $173.50 | $214.10 | $259.40 |
| Child age 6–8 | $255.00 | $295.30 | $345.40 |
| Male age 19–50 | $308.40 | $387.20 | $472.90 |
For a male age 19–50 in a four-person household, USDA estimated $308.40 per month on the low-cost plan, $387.20 on the moderate-cost plan, and $472.90 on the liberal plan. These values illustrate why a household grocery budget cannot be interpreted from one average shopper alone: the benchmark varies substantially by age, sex, and spending level.
Source: Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Three Levels, U.S. Average, December 2025.
Food security and household affordability
Food affordability is also reflected in whether households can obtain enough food for an active, healthy life. The USDA Economic Research Service reported that 86.3% of U.S. households were food secure throughout 2024. That leaves 13.7%, or 18.3 million households, that were food insecure at some time during the year.
The 2024 household figures distinguish between levels of hardship. Low food security affected 8.3% of households, equal to 11.1 million households. Very low food security affected 5.4%, or 7.2 million households. These measures describe conditions during the year and should not be read as a monthly grocery-cost average.
Households with children under age 18 had a higher food-insecurity rate than the overall household population. In 2024, 81.6% of households with children were food secure, while 18.4%, or 6.7 million households, were food insecure. Children were food insecure at times in 9.1% of households with children, representing 3.3 million households. In 0.9% of these households, or 318,000 households, both children and adults experienced very low food security.
The annual rate also changed across recent survey years. Household food insecurity was 12.8% in 2022, 13.5% in 2023, and 13.7% in 2024. This sequence describes the share experiencing food insecurity during each calendar year; it does not measure the price change of a particular grocery basket.
Source: Household Food Security in the United States in 2024.
Differences by income and household characteristics
Income is strongly associated with the reported ability to obtain enough food. In 2024, food insecurity affected 39.4% of households below 100% of the federal poverty threshold. The rate was 38.3% for households below 130% of the threshold and 32.8% for households below 185%.
Among households at or above 185% of the federal poverty threshold, the food-insecurity rate was 7.9%. These percentages describe household groups as defined by the survey and poverty thresholds; they are not individual grocery budgets.
Food insecurity also varied by the race and ethnicity of the household reference person. The 2024 rates were 24.4% for households with a Black, non-Hispanic reference person, 20.2% for households with a Hispanic reference person, and 10.1% for households with a White, non-Hispanic reference person.
For meal planning, these differences matter because a fixed shopping list can represent very different financial pressure for different households. USDA’s food-plan estimates provide spending benchmarks, while food-security statistics show how often households report that available resources did not reliably support food needs. The two types of measure answer related but different questions.
Source: Household Food Security in the United States in 2024.
Geographic differences in food insecurity
Location is another part of the affordability picture. In 2024, food insecurity affected 16.0% of households in principal cities and 15.9% of households outside metropolitan areas. The reported rate for the South was 15.0%, the highest among the four Census regions.
These categories are not interchangeable. Principal cities and households outside metropolitan areas describe metropolitan status, while the South describes a Census region. A household can therefore belong to one metropolitan category and also be located in the South. The rates indicate differences in reported food insecurity, not a direct ranking of local grocery prices.
The geographic figures are useful alongside household-level measures because food access and affordability are experienced in specific places. However, the supplied regional statistic identifies only the South’s rate and its position as the highest among the four Census regions; it does not provide a complete four-region table.
Source: Household Food Security in the United States in 2024.
Recent 30-day food hardship
Annual food-security measures can conceal more recent pressure, so a separate USDA statistical supplement examined a 30-day reference period before the December 2024 survey. From mid-November to mid-December 2024, 7.7% of U.S. households were food insecure during that 30-day period, equal to 10.3 million households. Very low food security affected 3.0%, or 4.0 million households.
Among households below 130% of the federal poverty line, 30-day food insecurity rose from 21.3% in the comparable 2023 period to 23.2% in 2024. Other 30-day comparisons moved downward: very low food security among households with children under age 6 fell from 3.5% to 2.4%; among households with Hispanic reference persons, it fell from 4.7% to 3.6%; and among households below 185% of the poverty line, it fell from 8.9% to 8.0%.
The annual experience of very low food security shows how affordability pressure can affect daily eating patterns. Among these households in 2024, 97.9% worried that food would run out before they had money to buy more, and 96.6% said food bought did not last and they lacked money to get more. Another 95.0% could not afford balanced meals.
Meal disruption was also common in this group: 96.7% of adults cut meal size or skipped meals at some point during 2024, while 68.5% were hungry but did not eat because they could not afford food. These are reported experiences among households with very low food security, not estimates for all U.S. households.
Source: Statistical Supplement to Household Food Security in the United States in 2024.
Price changes across grocery categories
Affordability can change even when the overall grocery trend looks moderate because prices do not move uniformly. The U.S. food-at-home Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% from December 2024 to December 2025. Within that period, cereals and bakery products rose 1.5%, while rice, pasta, and cornmeal fell 1.7%.
Bakery products rose 2.3%. Fruits and vegetables rose 0.5%, while fresh vegetables fell 0.2%. Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials rose 5.1%. These category movements show why a household’s experience depends on what it regularly buys.
The largest increases in the supplied category figures were concentrated in selected items. Beef and veal rose 16.4% from December 2024 to December 2025, and coffee rose 19.8%. Eggs moved in the opposite direction, falling 20.9% over the same period.
| Grocery category | CPI change, December 2024–December 2025 |
|---|---|
| Food at home | +2.4% |
| Cereals and bakery products | +1.5% |
| Rice, pasta, and cornmeal | -1.7% |
| Beef and veal | +16.4% |
| Eggs | -20.9% |
| Fruits and vegetables | +0.5% |
| Nonalcoholic beverages and beverage materials | +5.1% |
| Coffee | +19.8% |
The CPI changes are national price measures for the stated categories and period. They do not predict a particular store’s prices or tell a household how much it must spend. For planning purposes, they are best read with the USDA monthly food-plan benchmarks and the food-security measures: one describes price movement, one describes reference spending levels, and the other describes whether households were able to meet food needs.
Source: Consumer Price Index News Release – 2025 M12 Results.