STACKER — After more than a year of historical inflation, grocery prices are staying relatively steady. Prices fell in March and April for the first time since September 2020 and have changed little since. In August, the cost of groceries inflated 0.2% over July prices.
The drop earlier this spring was largely fueled by decreases in eggs—which had risen dramatically in price—as well as meats, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products.
The overall cost of groceries in August remained up 3% from 2022 after historically high inflation in the past couple of years following a series of major social and economic events, including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, labor disruptions, and heightened consumer demand. Overall, inflation has finally somewhat cooled after continuous interest rate hikes from the Fed, and grocery inflation appears to be doing the same.
Despite the lull, groceries in some categories continued to climb. Stacker used monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find the grocery items that experienced the largest price increases over the last month in the Midwest, using year-over-year changes as a tiebreaker where needed. For this analysis, the Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Stacker excluded some hyper-specific meat categories in order to better understand grocery price fluctuations more broadly.
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#8. Malt beverages (per 16 oz.)
– One-month increase in cost: +0.1%
– Annual change in cost: +7.5%
– August 2023 cost: $1.64
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#7. Whole chicken (per lb.)
– One-month increase in cost: +0.4%
– Annual change in cost: -1.1%
– August 2023 cost: $1.85
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#5. Wine (per 1 liter)
– One-month increase in cost: +1.0%
– Annual change in cost: +10.7%
– August 2023 cost: $13.52
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#5. White bread (per lb.)
– One-month increase in cost: +1.0%
– Annual change in cost: +12.7%
– August 2023 cost: $1.96
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#4. Beef steaks (per lb.)
– One-month increase in cost: +1.1%
– Annual change in cost: +20.4%
– August 2023 cost: $11.1
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#3. Cheddar cheese, natural (per lb.)
– One-month increase in cost: +1.6%
– Annual change in cost: +0.8%
– August 2023 cost: $5.52
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#2. Tomatoes (per lb.)
– One-month increase in cost: +3.6%
– Annual change in cost: +4.7%
– August 2023 cost: $1.91
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#1. White potatoes (per lb.)
– One-month increase in cost: +6.3%
– Annual change in cost: +12.9%
– August 2023 cost: $1.0
This article originally appeared on Stacker, and was produced and distributed through a partnership with Stacker Studio. This article has been republished pursuant to a CC by NC 4.0 License.
