Are prices lower in stores compared to a year ago?
Mixed Picture: Some Prices Down, Overall Still Higher
The short answer is: it depends on the item — overall prices are still higher than a year ago, but a growing number of specific grocery staples have gotten cheaper.
Overall Trend
Broadly, food prices remain above where they were a year ago. Food prices remain well above their pre-pandemic levels, and are up 3% over July 2025 as of July 2026. This continues a longer pattern — earlier in the year, grocery store food prices increased 2.1% from January 2025 to January 2026, with the biggest jump being ground beef, which went up more than 21%.
What's Actually Cheaper
Despite the overall increase, several specific items are genuinely less expensive than last year:
What's Still More Expensive
Many items are still rising, sometimes sharply:
The Retailer Response
Facing pushback from cost-conscious consumers, many chains are cutting prices strategically. Some major chains have announced targeted price cuts to bring consumers back into their stores, though grocery margins are already thin. This mirrors trends in the UK as well, where shop price inflation remains lower than a year ago, which helps shoppers manage other rising household costs like energy and fuel.
Bottom line: You'll likely notice real savings on eggs, poultry, and a few produce items, but overall grocery bills are still running above last year's levels — driven largely by beef, coffee, and certain fruits/vegetables.
Citations (13)
- Some Grocery Prices Are Finally Going Down — Here’s What’s Getting Cheaper - Better Report
Source excerpt: “Food prices remain well above their pre-pandemic levels, and are up 3% over July 2025 (as of July 2026, the latest data available). ”
- Are groceries more expensive than last year? | USAFacts
Source excerpt: “Grocery store food prices increased 2.1% from January 2025 to January 2026 – the product with the biggest jump, ground beef, went up more than 21%. ”
- Food Price Outlook - Summary Findings | Economic Research Service
Source excerpt: “Retail egg prices decreased 0.4 percent from June 2026 to July 2026 and were 25.7 percent lower in July 2026 than in July 2025. ”
- Food Price Outlook - Summary Findings | Economic Research Service
Source excerpt: “An ongoing outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) that began in 2022 has caused egg prices to increase by reducing egg-layer flocks and ...”
- Food Price Outlook - Summary Findings | Economic Research Service
Source excerpt: “Poultry prices fell 0.5 percent from June 2026 to July 2026 and were 0.5 percent lower in July 2026 than in July 2025. ”
- Are groceries more expensive than last year? | USAFacts
Source excerpt: “... Eggs, tomatoes, potatoes, bread and chicken were all cheaper as of January 2026 than a year prior. ”
- Food Price Outlook - Summary Findings | Economic Research Service
Source excerpt: “Retail fresh vegetable prices decreased by 1.6 percent from June 2026 to July 2026 but were 6.3 percent higher in July 2026 than in July 2025. ”
- Food Price Outlook - Summary Findings | Economic Research Service
Source excerpt: “Retail prices in July 2026 were 12.8 percent higher for fresh tomatoes, 7.5 percent higher for fresh lettuce, and 3.4 percent higher for fresh potatoe...”
- Food Price Outlook - Summary Findings | Economic Research Service
Source excerpt: “Retail fresh fruit prices increased by 1.1 percent from June 2026 to July 2026 and were 4.9 percent higher in July 2026 than in July 2025. ”
- Some Grocery Prices Are Finally Going Down — Here’s What’s Getting Cheaper - Better Report
Source excerpt: “According to the latest BLS data, the cost of tomatoes is up 12.8% year over year, while apples cost 11% more in July 2026 than they did in July 2025....”
- Food Prices - 2026 - Center for Commercial Agriculture
Source excerpt: “Specifically, beef prices have emerged as a particular concern, rising 16% from September 2024 to September 2025 (Figure 2). ”
- Retail sales better than appear at first blush
Source excerpt: “Some major chains have announced targeted price cuts to bring consumers back into their stores. The challenge is grocery margins are already thin. ”
- Retailers keep prices low despite mounting cost pressures | Talking Retail
Source excerpt: “Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight, NIQ, said: “Shop price inflation remains lower than a year ago, which will help shoppers as they ...”