Minnesota Remains Among Most Affordable States For Groceries

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, food prices have increased by nearly 30% since 2019. Since wages haven't kept up with that level of inflation, Americans are using more and more of their available budget on food.

“While grocery prices have gone up tremendously in recent years, the states in which people spend the greatest percentage of their income on groceries actually aren’t those with the highest prices, says WalletHub's Chip Lupo. "Instead, the median incomes in these states are quite low, so even with reasonable grocery prices, residents end up shelling out a higher percentage of their earnings than people in states with more expensive products.”

Using 26 commonly purchased grocery items, WalletHub studied the numbers from every state in the country to determine which are spending the largest percentage of their income on food.

States in the southern part of the country generally spend more of their income on food, evidenced by Mississippi's highest-in-the-nation 2.6% of their budget going toward food. West Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana and Kentucky round out the top-five most expensive.

HOW MUCH DO MINNESOTANS SPEND ON GROCERIES

Minnesota ranks as the 11th-cheapest place for budget-to-food ratio at 1.72%, just behind California's 1.66%.

The state using the least amount of income on groceries is Massachusetts at 1.51%, followed by New Jersey, Maryland and New Hampshire.

ARE GROCERIES EXPENSIVE IN THE MIDWEST? 

Our midwestern neighbors all mostly finished in the middle of the pack, like Wisconsin (27th most expensive, 1.97%); North Dakota (33rd, 1.91%) and Iowa (24th, 1.98%).