Grocery shoppers felt a slight reprieve this spring as grocery prices finally fell, after a run of increases spanning back to September 2020.
Grocery prices remained relatively unchanged in May at a 0.2% increase, following two consecutive months of decreases, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It certainly didn’t undo the two years of historically high inflation, and prices were still up 6.7% from May 2022. But urban prices have fallen in many grocery categories, including eggs, meats, vegetables, grains, and dairy products.
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Many factors have contributed to past surges in pricing, including producers’ increased cost to package goods, extreme weather conditions that destroyed crops, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the lasting effects of COVID-19.
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While costs remain high overall, the decreases mean dollars can stretch a bit farther at the grocery store. 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 South, using year-over-year changes as a tiebreaker where needed. For this analysis, the South includes Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Washington D.C., Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Stacker excluded some hyper-specific meat categories in order to better understand grocery price fluctuations more broadly.
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#12. Malt beverages (per 16 oz.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -0.2%
- Annual change in cost: +7.5%
- May 2023 cost: $1.68
Stefan Malloch // Shutterstock
#11. Cheddar cheese, natural (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -0.4%
- Annual change in cost: +11.2%
- May 2023 cost: $5.86
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#10. Bananas (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -0.7%
- Annual change in cost: -2.9%
- May 2023 cost: $0.6
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#9. Ground coffee (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -1.8%
- Annual change in cost: +8.9%
- May 2023 cost: $5.77
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#8. Lemons (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -2.8%
- Annual change in cost: Not available
- May 2023 cost: $2.24
Angie Yeoh // Shutterstock
#7. Potato chips (per 16 oz.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -3.2%
- Annual change in cost: +24.6%
- May 2023 cost: $7.1
pkajak201 // Shutterstock
#6. Chocolate chip cookies (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -3.5%
- Annual change in cost: +9.2%
- May 2023 cost: $5.17
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#5. Navel oranges (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -4.3%
- Annual change in cost: -0.1%
- May 2023 cost: $1.5
MM Stock // Shutterstock
#4. Ice cream, prepackaged in bulk (per 1/2 gal.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -4.9%
- Annual change in cost: +14.9%
- May 2023 cost: $5.62
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#3. Tomatoes (per lb.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -5.4%
- Annual change in cost: -2.2%
- May 2023 cost: $1.61
Dusan Petkovic // Shutterstock
#2. Strawberries (per 12 oz.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -10.5%
- Annual change in cost: +10.2%
- May 2023 cost: $2.58
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#1. Eggs (per doz.)
- One-month decrease in cost: -24.9%
- Annual change in cost: -11.1%
- May 2023 cost: $2.31