Groceries don’t have to be the most expensive in the country to put a strain on a family’s budget.
A new WalletHub analysis ranks Los Angeles 50th among the 100 largest U.S. cities based on how much grocery costs represent as a share of median household income. The analysis compares the prices of 26 common grocery items with household income, showing how the same grocery bill can feel very different depending on how much a family earns.
That distinction matters in Los Angeles, where families are already balancing rent, transportation, health care and other everyday expenses.
It also matters for Latino families. A new UnidosUS survey of working-class Latino adults found that 61% say they just meet their expenses or struggle to cover them, while 83% rank the cost of living among their top three economic concerns. The survey included 2,700 working-class Latino adults nationwide, with state oversamples in California, Arizona, Florida and Texas.
The survey is not a measure of Los Angeles households specifically. But it offers a look at the financial pressure many working-class Latino families are describing.
Los Angeles is not among the cities where groceries take the largest share of median household income.
Detroit ranks No. 1 in the WalletHub analysis, where the cost of its grocery basket represents 3.78% of median monthly household income. Los Angeles sits in the middle of the 100-city ranking.
But a citywide ranking cannot tell us what every family is experiencing.
A household with more income may be able to absorb a higher grocery bill without changing much else. A family already stretching every dollar may have to make a different choice.
Buy the cheaper meat.
Switch brands.
Leave something out of the cart.
Or pay for the groceries and figure out later how to cover something else.
The price on the receipt is only part of the story.
What’s important is how much of the paycheck is left after the groceries are paid for.
That same idea is behind our earlier look at why groceries can be expensive without having to break the bank and how families are changing the way they pay for groceries.
The UnidosUS survey puts some numbers behind that pressure.
Among working-class Latino adults surveyed nationwide, 78% said they had taken extra steps just to stay afloat. Forty-three percent said they had bought less food or switched to cheaper groceries. Thirty-eight percent had dipped into savings, while 18% had taken on another job or extra hours.
Forty percent said they were worse off financially than a year earlier. Among those who said they were losing ground, 76% pointed to rising prices for everyday goods and services.
Those numbers don’t tell us exactly what Latino households in Los Angeles spend at the supermarket.
But they show the kinds of choices working-class Latino families are reporting as the cost of everyday life continues to put pressure on their budgets.
And groceries are one expense people cannot simply put off.
A family can delay buying new clothes. It can cancel a subscription or postpone a trip.
People still have to eat.
Los Angeles families are balancing more than groceries
Grocery prices in the Los Angeles area were 3.0% higher in August than a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Overall food prices were up 2.8% over the year.
At the same time, families are dealing with housing, transportation, medical bills, utilities and other costs.
So when the grocery bill goes up, it doesn’t happen by itself.
Something else in the household budget may have to give.
That is why the experience of buying groceries can look very different from one family to another.
For a household with enough income to absorb higher prices, a more expensive grocery trip may be frustrating.
For a household already stretched thin, it can mean buying less food, switching to cheaper products or using money that was supposed to cover something else.
Los Angeles does not have to rank No. 1 for grocery costs for families to feel the pressure.
The WalletHub analysis shows why income matters when looking at grocery costs. The UnidosUS survey shows how many working-class Latino families are already trying to stretch their budgets. And the latest federal data shows grocery prices in the Los Angeles area are still higher than they were a year ago.
Put those pieces together, and the bigger question is not simply whether groceries are among the most expensive in the country.
It is whether people’s incomes are keeping up with the cost of living.
We have also been tracking that broader pressure, including how Americans are spending more eating out than on groceries.
For families already trying to make every dollar last until the next paycheck, the answer can show up one grocery receipt at a time.
