Hawaii pays 36% above average for groceries — here's what every state spends

A Hawaiian household pushing a grocery cart out of a Kahului supermarket spends, on average, $536 a month per person — nearly double what a shopper in Butler County, Kentucky pays for the same monthly haul. That gap, documented across multiple 2025–2026 datasets, captures a divide in American grocery costs that runs far deeper than most shoppers realize.

Hawaii tops every major ranking. Its grocery price index for Q2 2026 sits at 135.8 — meaning groceries there cost 35.8% more than the national average — according to statecalc.com, which uses the C2ER Cost of Living Index compiled by MERIC. GoBankingRates data compiled by worldpopulationreview.com puts the average weekly grocery bill for a Hawaiian household at $157, or roughly $8,147 a year. Move.org's city-level analysis, based on Economic Policy Institute data adjusted for a 3% cost-of-living increase, found the Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina metro area is the single most expensive grocery market in the country at $536 per person per month.

The reason is structural. Hawaii's isolation means most goods must be imported, driving up transportation costs. Alaska faces a similar dynamic: its grocery price index reaches 125.1, and its estimated weekly grocery cost is $152 — second only to Hawaii nationally, according to worldpopulationreview.com. Remote location and harsh climate constrain local agricultural production and complicate distribution in both states.

Behind those two outliers, the next tier of expensive states is concentrated in the Northeast and Pacific Coast. California ($127/week), Washington ($126/week), and Vermont ($124/week) round out the top five for weekly spending, per GoBankingRates figures. New Jersey and Maryland score 107.6 and 108.2 respectively on the price index — well above the national baseline of 100 — while Massachusetts reaches 105.3, according to statecalc.com.

At the other end of the spectrum, Oklahoma ranks first for lowest grocery prices, with a price index of just 94.1 — nearly 6% below the national average. Mississippi (94.2), Arkansas (94.6), Alabama (95.2), and Louisiana (95.2) complete the five cheapest states, all clustered in the South, according to statecalc.com's Q2 2026 rankings. Move.org identified Butler County, Kentucky as the single cheapest metro-area market in the country, at $285 per person per month.

But cheap sticker prices don't tell the whole story. When grocery costs are measured as a share of median household income, the burden map shifts — and it falls hardest on lower-income Southern states. West Virginia residents spend an estimated 10.11% of median income on groceries annually; Mississippi residents spend 10.57% — the highest share in the nation, according to worldpopulationreview.com. By contrast, residents of Massachusetts and New Jersey — states with high absolute grocery costs — spend just 6.13% and 6.15% of median income respectively, because their incomes are substantially higher.

The national average cost of groceries in 2025 is $370 per month per person, according to move.org, though that figure varies with age, eating habits, and location. That average masks a roughly $250-per-month spread between the cheapest and most expensive markets identified in the data.

Sales tax adds another layer of complexity. As of mid-2026, 41 states exempt groceries from state sales tax entirely, according to statecalc.com, citing Tax Foundation data. Three states — Hawaii, Idaho, and South Dakota — tax groceries at the same rate as general merchandise. Idaho's effective grocery tax rate is 6%, South Dakota's is 4.2%, and Hawaii's is 4%. Several other states apply reduced rates: Mississippi charges 5%, Tennessee 4%, Alabama 2%, Missouri 1.23%, Virginia 1%, and North Carolina 2%.

The datasets used across these analyses differ in methodology, which produces some variation in exact rankings. The GoBankingRates figures are modeled estimates derived from Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey data. The C2ER index surveys prices of identical grocery items in participating urban areas — it is not a census of every part of each state. Move.org's figures come from Economic Policy Institute metro-area data, adjusted using USDA food plan costs and Feeding America's Meal Gap data, then inflated by 3% to approximate current prices. The Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey, also referenced by worldpopulationreview.com, captures self-reported spending. Because of these methodological differences, the figures are not directly comparable across sources.

What the sources agree on: the regional pattern is consistent. High costs cluster in island states, the Pacific Coast, and parts of the Northeast. Low costs cluster in the South and lower Midwest. And the states where groceries are cheapest in absolute terms are often the states where residents feel the pinch most acutely in their paychecks.

Why it matters — Grocery costs vary by up to 36% above the national average depending on where you live, and the states with the lowest prices often have the lowest incomes — meaning the real financial squeeze on food budgets doesn't follow the sticker-price map.

Sources differ on Exact grocery cost rankings by state: GoBankingRates modeled estimates (via worldpopulationreview.com) rank Hawaii #1 most expensive at $157/week, followed by Alaska at $152/week. (worldpopulationreview.com) vs C2ER Q2 2026 price index (via statecalc.com) ranks Hawaii #50 most expensive at 135.8 and Alaska #49 at 125.1, with Oklahoma cheapest at 94.1. (statecalc.com) vs Move.org city-level data ranks Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina (HI) most expensive at $536/month and Butler County (KY) least expensive at $285/month — not directly comparable to statewide figures. (move.org)

Reported by statecalc.com, newsweek.com, worldpopulationreview.com, move.org, wallethub.com