Bumming over your grocery bill? 😤🛒 Thinking about peacing out of the U.S. in search of cheaper yums? Don’t pack your bags just yet.
A recent Yahoo Finance write up revealed just how much our grocery bills stack up against a few of our foreign friends. 🥫💰 How did we do? Read on for all the tea.
Here’s Five Fast Facts on grocery prices around the world:
- 🧀 American Cheese - On paper, groceries here in the U.S. are more expensive than they are in Canada, China, and Mexico. The reasons? We import a ton of stuff, labor costs here in the states are higher, and girl…the tariffs. However, when we look at household budgets, groceries take up 6.8% of the total pie, which is lower than our neighbors.
- 🥓 Canadian Bacon - Our Canadian neighbors in the north pay roughly 5.8% less than we do for groceries. That might sound like a bargain, but Canadians also earn less than Americans do. Canadian households spend an average of 9.7% of their budget on groceries.
- 🥑 Avocados from Mexico - South of the border, Mexicans pay a whopping 42.3% less than we do for groceries. Again, that’s just on paper - sounds good, but Mexicans have far less disposable income than Americans do. They also have less access to imported foods. If you live outside a major Mexican city, chances are you’re eating super local.
- 🐔 Chinese Chicken - In China, grocery prices are even cheaper than Mexico. They’re just over 53% less than they are in America. The Chinese can thank cheap labor and massive agricultural operations for that. Not to beat a dead horse, but that’s not the full story. Cost of living varies wildly in China and food makes up a bigger chunk of the average household budget.
- 💓 Grocery Price Pulse Check - When it comes to rising food prices in the U.S., we’ve seen a 23.6% increase between 2020 and 2024. However, last year, food inflation came down quite a bit. In 2022, food inflation hit 11.4%, but in 2024 it slowed to 1.2%.
🔥Bottom line: See? The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. We’d still smuggle ourselves into Canada for the better bacon and maple syrup. Oh, and before you put that DoorDash order on Afterpay, stop and think. For many Americans, buying now and paying later bit them right in the butt. Want more on that? Head to this article!
How much is your weekly grocery bill?
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