Persistent inflation keeping grocery prices high for consumers

Prices for food at home were up 11.3% over a year ago in January

Persistent inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy have kept prices for groceries high even as inflation has eased somewhat in other sectors of the economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly consumer price index (CPI) report for January released last week showed that prices for food at home – the classification for food bought at the store to be prepared at home – were up 11.3% compared to last year. That figure is well above the overall inflation number, which came in at 6.4% year-over-year as of January and is down from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022.

The high cost of groceries hits fixed- and low-income families particularly hard. For those receiving Social Security, the 8.7% cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) that took effect in January 2023 – which is the largest since 1981 and boosted the average monthly benefit by about $140 – still leaves beneficiaries with relatively less income for groceries compared to a year ago even with the COLA.

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