U.S. — The cost of buying food to eat at home in the U.S. has increased by 33% since the beginning of 2019. This sustained rise has placed affordability at the center of household budgets and made it a key issue in the fall 2026 midterm elections.

The price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. reached $6.82 in June 2026. The June 2026 price of ground beef represents a 79% increase compared to the beginning of 2019. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food at home prices rose 3.5% in the 12 months ending June 2026 as part of this broader trend.

Contributing factors to high beef prices include a shrinking U.S. cattle herd, drought in the West, and the costs of feed and fuel. Demand for ground beef in the U.S. is falling as consumers adjust to these higher costs.

"People have a well-honed sense of those prices, just as much as gas and maybe more so. You need groceries to live," said Jared Bernstein, a senior policy fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy who served as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under former President Joe Biden.

"It’s almost like a strategy, a household strategy, where financial pressure just hasn’t disappeared, so consumers are really developing their own playbook on how to navigate it," said Sally Lyons Wyatt, global executive vice president at market research company Circana.

Regional data shows varying rates of increase. Food for home use in San Francisco cost 6% more in June 2026 compared to June 2025.

Average weekly earnings for people with full-time jobs in the U.S. have increased at a slightly faster rate than the cost of groceries since 2019. In 2024, Americans spent an average of 12.9% of their pretax incomes on food consumed at home and when eating out. The lowest-earning one-fifth of U.S. households spent an average of 33% of their pretax incomes on food in 2024.

Individual shoppers have altered their purchasing habits in response to these pressures. Apral Jack, a 50-year-old care provider and part-time Amazon worker in Lexington, Massachusetts, has changed where she shops. "The apples went up here, the ones I eat, so now I’m not going to get them here. I’ll go to Market Basket, where I can get them cheaper," Jack said.

Jack, whose three daughters are adults, plans her meals around sales. "Typically, I’ll try to pick the meals based on that. So like chicken fajitas: there was a three-day sale on chicken," she said. She no longer buys Nabisco Ginger Snaps or Nilla Wafers and does not buy store brand replacements because she believes they do not taste the same.

For some families, the financial strain limits the number of meals they can afford. Ada Torres, 60, lives in Cleveland, Texas, 45 miles northeast of Houston, with her 36-year-old daughter and three grandchildren ages 12, 15, and 16. Her daughter, who works for a mobile car-washing service, is the main provider for the family, though work dwindles during the rainy season.

Torres’s family can only afford one full meal a day. She no longer buys ground beef, and chicken and cold cuts are the main source of animal protein for her family. "Prices are sky-high. One hundred dollars’ worth of groceries these days is nothing. Maybe you can bring home seven family-size items, if you manage to find a good deal," Torres said.

In San Francisco, self-employed barber Jack Chang, 33, supports his partner Tina Chhous and their three young children. Chhous is unemployed and receives monthly food assistance through SNAP. She takes leftover meat or bread from their 4-year-old daughter’s preschool.

Chang’s 77-year-old mother, Lien, also receives SNAP aid and visits two food banks each week. Lien shares the canned food, eggs, and produce she receives from food banks with the rest of her family. "Since I have five mouths I have to feed, basically — and then sometimes my mom, too — it’s a lot on me financially," Chang said. Chang reviews his finances with concern. "I look at my credit card every month and I’m like, ‘Wow, how am I going to pay this?’ So I’m a little behind on bills, honestly," he said. His family visits a Japanese entertainment center to buy $1 ice cream cones, and milk is the only organic product they consume. They do not go out for boba milk teas or artisanal ice cream.

Geographic isolation creates additional cost pressures in Hawaii, which receives nearly all its food from cargo ships. Amanda Tabadero, a 28-year-old pastry chef on Oahu, has seen the price of Maui-grown strawberries and blueberries rise from $7.99 per pound in 2024 to $11 per pound in 2026. The cost of shipping goods between the Hawaiian Islands increased in 2026 due to rising fuel prices tied to the Iran conflict.

Tabadero buys berries from California or Mexico at Costco for $5 per pound. She recently purchased an iced coffee and a bag of fruit in Honolulu’s Chinatown for a total of $30. "It makes me sad. I want to use local stuff," Tabadero said. Kaimana lychee is a variety grown in Hawaii, mostly on the Big Island, but Tabadero doubts she will buy it again anytime soon.

Multiple global and domestic events have contributed to the current pricing environment. The coronavirus pandemic snarled supply chains and raised labor and transportation costs. Droughts, hurricanes, and diseases like bird flu drove down agricultural production.

Tariffs raised prices on foreign products like coffee, tomatoes, and chocolate. Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine disrupted oil and fertilizer supplies, and a conflict in the Middle East is creating price pressures on food. Food prices in U.S. cities rose by 6.4% in the 7.5 years prior to 2019.