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That pole-axed feeling you’ve been suffering lately when you check out from the grocery store? Or go to the state fair? Calm yourself, Dallas, it could be worse. You could be in Detroit.
Personal finance company WalletHub has just released a ranking of the nation’s 100 largest cities based on the share of monthly median income that households spend on a market basket of 26 common grocery goods. Dallas came in at 2.14%, according to WalletHub’s analysis, putting it at No. 39 on the list.
Detroit came in at No. 1 on the list, where people in that Rust Belt icon spend on average 3.78% of the median household income on those goods.
“In the cities where people spend the most money on groceries, residents often have low incomes on top of seeing high sticker prices on common grocery items,” Chip Lupo, WalletHub writer and analyst, noted in the report.
But even our rudimentary math skills inform us that the percentage tells only part of the story. For example, according to numbers online from the Dallas Economic Development Department, the median income in the city in 2023 was $67,760. Census Bureau figures from 2023 peg Detroit’s median household income at $38,100. (The Census Bureau might have more recent data than that, but we couldn’t tell you because of the government shutdown.)
We did some math, dividing the annual median household income for both cities by 12 and multiplying those numbers by WalletHub’s percentages. Turns out that the monthly grocery figure for both cities is around $120. What does this say about the price of groceries from city to city? According to WalletHub: “Overall, Detroit has the 36th-most expensive groceries out of the 100 cities in our study, so its prices are relatively average [emphasis added]. There are a few types of groceries that are very expensive or very inexpensive relative to other cities’ prices, though. Detroit has the 10th-most expensive lettuce prices in the country, along with the 14th-highest sugar prices and 17th-highest whole milk prices. However, for quite a few types of groceries, such as ground beef, chunk light tuna, and peaches, the city’s prices are among the least expensive in the nation.”
Perhaps this is less a ranking about the comparative price of groceries from town to town than a ranking of median income? It’s likely not coincidental that cities with the lowest percentage of grocery costs also have the highest household median incomes. Breaking news: poor people have to eat, they don’t make a lot of money and a lot of them live in Detroit.
We receive numerous lists like these from various companies every month, and people seem to enjoy reading them. So, below, you’ll find the rankings of Texas cities in WalletHub’s analysis, FWIW. One thing we know for sure is that $9 for a pound of ground beef stings like a MOFO, so we’re taking this report with a grain of salt. (BTW, a box of Morton salt goes for $1.99 at Goody Goody Liquor, which in these inflationary days sells items that don’t appear to be among WalletHub’s “26 components ranging from meat, dairy, vegetables and fruits to frozen food and cleaning products.” But they sure ease the sting of grocery shopping.)
Texas Cities on the List
The percentage reflects the percentage of gross median income spent on groceries.
- 20. El Paso, 2.42%
- 22. Lubbock, 2.34%
- 31. Amarillo, 2.23%
- 32. San Antonio, 2.23%
- 39. Dallas, 2.14%
- 41. Corpus Christi, 2.12%
- 55. Garland, 1.94%
- 61. Fort Worth, 1.90%
- 70. Irving, 1.82%
- 85. Austin, 1.56%*
- 94. Plano, 1.33%
*Austin is the home base of Whole Foods. Where’s that grain of salt?
