08/26/2026
If your grocery bill feels absolutely ridiculous right now, WHERE you live might be making it even worse.
According to the 2025 C2ER Grocery Price Index, Hawaii sits at the top with grocery prices about 31% above the national average. Alaska comes in around 25% higher.
Then you’ve got California, Washington, Oregon, Vermont, Maryland, Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York all sitting above the national baseline too.
And this is what people feel every single week.
You can cut coupons.
You can shop sales.
You can buy generic.
You can meal prep until your refrigerator looks like a Tetris board.
But if you live in a state where groceries are already 5%, 10%, or even 30% higher than the national average, there’s only so much “budgeting better” is going to fix.
That’s why I get annoyed when every conversation about grocery prices turns into somebody telling people to stop buying snacks or quit shopping at the “wrong” store.
Sometimes the problem really is the PRICE.
And in some states, that price is brutal.
