Cheapest States for Groceries (2026)

States are ranked (ascending) by the Grocery component of the C2ER Cost of Living Index (Q2 2026, published by MERIC), which prices the same grocery items in participating cities; 100 = the national average. It is a survey of urban areas, not a census of each state, and it is not the overall cost-of-living index, which is driven mostly by housing. Alaska and Hawaii are different: this site's own grocery-budget calculators use USDA's own official Anchorage/Hawaii Thrifty Food Plan geographic ratio for those two states instead of a price index, so their position in this ranking does not necessarily match their USDA-anchored grocery-budget figure — see each state's own grocery budget calculator for that USDA-sourced number. Sales tax on groceries varies by state: as of 2026-08-06, 41 states exempt groceries from state sales tax entirely, 3 states (Hawaii, Idaho, and South Dakota) tax groceries at the same rate as general merchandise, and the rest apply a reduced rate. Data from C2ER/MERIC, USDA Food Plans, and Tax Foundation, cross-checked against states.ts's own per-state tax classification.