Idaho grocery costs killing you? Blame yourself. You chose worst state to live, study says
If there’s one thing that most everyone can agree on, it’s that grocery prices are bananas — up around 20 percent from 2020.
But if the situation feels even worse in Idaho, maybe there’s a reason.
Maybe — we chose the worst place to live?
Good news! Idaho is No. 1 in another internet study. Bad news! This one smells like a jug of expired milk.
The analysis, titled “Top States Hit Hardest by Grocery Prices,” found that residents of Idaho fork over the highest percentage of take-home pay to buy groceries of any state in America.
How much? 7.44% annually.
Idahoans spend about $4,859 each year on groceries, or $93 per week, the study says: “In Boise, you will find a loaf of white bread for $3.22, 1 kilogram of apples for $4.84 and a dozen eggs for $3.14 on average.”
(Those definitely aren’t cage-free eggs.)
The state hit second hardest to Idaho? New Mexico at 6.82%.
To take refuge in a place least affected by high grocery prices, you’ll want to flee to Maryland. Residents of that state spend only 4.2% of their income on groceries, the study says.
This random research was conducted by an equally random website: Coupons4Real. Never heard of it. But the findings seem reasonable. It’s not like the methodology was insanely complex. Sources used to compute the take-home-pay to grocery-bill ratio were World Population Review, Salary After Tax, Forbes and Numbeo.
It’s no secret that Idaho isn’t known for its generous salaries. With food bills skyrocketing, we naturally spend a larger chunk of our meager earnings on eggs, milk and bottom-of-the-bin, store-brand cereal.
It’s more brutal news for grocery buying in the Boise area. My family already is bummed out that our neighborhood Albertsons is on the list of stores to be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers if the Kroger merger is approved.
You may have heard that Kroger has promised to lower grocery prices at remaining Albertsons stores by $1 billion. Yippee. I doubt consumers even notice that drop in the gazillion-dollar bucket.
In the meantime, if anybody moves to Maryland, please pick me up a family-size bag of Doritos? I’ll pay shipping.
Tell the post office I qualify for “media mail.”
This story was originally published August 21, 2024 at 4:00 AM.