As we all know, prices are up across the board. For groceries and other everyday household items, it’s a mixture of lingering post-Covid inflation, corporate greed, and Trump’s tariffs. For families that are looking for options outside of their usual go-to stores, Consumer Reports just released a helpful list of the most affordable places to buy groceries. Using Walmart as the baseline, they compared the prices at 35 different major grocery retailers. Their findings revealed a 33% difference in prices between the cheapest and priciest ones. The cheapest places to buy groceries right now are Costco and BJ’s. Warehouse stores for the win! According to CR, Costco’s prices are more than 20% cheaper than Walmart’s. The most expensive stores were Whole Foods and Shaw’s.
The Consumer Reports analysis found that warehouse clubs were the cheapest overall, regarding the national average. Costco led the list at 21.4% cheaper than Walmart, followed closely by BJ’s Wholesale Club at 21% less, followed by Lidl (8.5% cheaper) and Aldi being 8.3% cheaper than Walmart.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods was the most expensive chain nationally, averaging nearly 40% higher prices than Walmart. Other traditional supermarkets, including Publix (20.3% higher) and Trader Joe’s (24.6% higher), also cost more.
To determine the rankings, Consumer Reports commissioned research from Strategic Resource Group, a New York-based retail and grocery market research firm. It compared baskets of commonly used national-brand purchased items at mainstream grocery chains in six representative U.S. cities – Boston, Chicago, Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles/Southern California and Virginia Beach. Prices were collected in person from store shelves in late summer 2025, according to the report.
Here’s how major grocery chains compare to Walmart, from cheapest to most expensive, according to Consumer Reports:
Costco Wholesale: -21.4%
BJ’s Wholesale Club: -21.0%
Lidl: -8.5%
Aldi: -8.3%
WinCo: -3.3%
H-E-B: -0.2%
Walmart (baseline)
Market Basket: +1.2%
Target: +5.9%
Wegmans: +7.6%
King Soopers: +7.9%
Safeway: +8.8%
Food 4 Less: +9.0%
Meijer: +9.9%
Food Lion: +12.5%
Hannaford: +13.2%
Kroger: +14.8%
Stater Bros.: +15.6%
Save A Lot: +19.3%
Publix: +20.3%
Fiesta: +21.7%
Ralphs: +21.9%
Stop & Shop: +22.2%
Piggly Wiggly: +22.6%
Harris Teeter: +23.5%
Trader Joe’s: +24.6%
Albertsons: +24.8%
Tom Thumb: +25.4%
Big Y: +26.2%
Vons: +26.6%
Mariano’s: +27.6%
Jewel-Osco: +29.7%
El Rancho: +30.1%
Shaw’s: +31.9%
Whole Foods: +39.7%
I’ve shopped at roughly half of the stores on this list at some point in my life, so none of these findings really surprise me. I do most of my shopping at Costco and Wegman’s, with a little bit of Trader Joe’s thrown in there every few weeks because my kids are obsessed with their Strawberry O’s cereal. The only thing that raised my eyebrows was Trader Joe’s being more expensive than Harris Teeter. Harris Teeter is pricey, but they do have some really good sales sometimes. Whole Foods priced me out years ago, but it is wild to see that they’re almost 40% more expensive than Walmart. Anyway, I’ve been a longtime Costco champion for various different reasons, and this survey makes me feel vindicated.
In other Costco news, their first-ever standalone gas station is opening in Mission Viejo, California in June. It’ll have 40 pumps and be available to members only. I genuinely believe that this is a game-changer for them, especially during a time period where they’re hoping to increase membership in order to keep other prices lower. Even during the pandemic, Costco managed to keep their gas prices lower than regular gas stations. If you get gas multiple times a week or month, it’s definitely worth it to get a membership, even if you’re only using it for the gas.
I wish I could get into costco, but the whole experience causes my anxiety to really go up. It’s always so crowded, and it’s just so big!
With the executive membership, you’re able to enter the store early, which is much calmer and less hectic.
Being able to shop an hour early makes a big difference at my Costco location. And, if you shop there enough, the annual reward paid out to executive members more than pays for the cost of the executive membership. I had wondered if shopping for a two-person household (especially one that doesn’t buy any meats or many snacks) would be enough to meet that threshold, but between groceries, some incidentals, and gas purchases, there’s always enough reward payout to cover the membership with some left over to go toward part of a grocery trip. That could change, perhaps, if I buy an EV, but for now, no problem.
@Peanut Butter: gas doesn’t count toward the cash back for executive level membership. I remember being bummed by that because I finally broke down & bought a membership (I hate the idea of paying to walk into a store) primarily for the gas.
If you shop at Costco at night like an hour before closing on a weekday it’s much calmer. I find that true of most grocery stores
I go on weekday evenings, about an hour or so before close. An insanely better experience.
Single and child-free, small apartment…I wish I could shop more at Costco.
I’m in the same situation as you, but I do go to Costco every 6-7 weeks or so (usually if someone offers to take me, since I don’t drive.) I am careful about what I buy…nothing with a short shelf life, so no fresh fruit or veg unless I’m sharing it with someone else, and I have had to get creative with storage but I do find it to be worth it overall.
Same. So, mostly household supplies, gas, frozen items or items that freeze well, pasta & cereal. That’s about it.
We are now empty nesters. We only warehouse shop for paper goods, which we store in our garage, and my husbands addiction to Pellegrino and Soda. Back in the day, my mother-in-law and I would go to Costco, and we would split our order across 4 families, which made it a much more appealing option. I miss the BIG muffins LOL.
Consider creating a grocery club. Buy staples like rice, fruit, meats, bread, etc. You can divide things amongst yourselves. My husband and I do this with two single friends on limited incomes.
Yes but, does Costco have curbside pick-up?
No curbside pickup here, but delivery is available in my area
I only do Costco delivery. Pay a bit more, but it’s still cheaper than the grocery store. And the quality of meat is so much better.
Two adult household (with dog) over here. If the two Costco locations in my metro area weren’t a 30 mile drive away I’d definitely buy more gas there – it’s 20-30 cents a gallon less than regular pump prices. We joined up this year after Target dumped DEI and before Costco stopped selling mifepristone. We mostly buy paper goods and fizzy water (a case of San Pellegrino liter bottles is so much cheaper than buying singles in the store that a former splurge is now a normal part of our drink rotation). Their house brand (Kirkland) easily stands up to brand-name products. I also like that they carry organic produce and dairy, and that those things are easy to find (there are separate cold storage rooms inside the store).
It’s easy and tempting to get seduced into buying the cheaper-than-store-product cheeses and other packaged goods, but unless you have more people to eat them, they don’t last long enough after being opened. The one exception in the cheese department is the big hunk of Manchego, which stayed fresh for long enough after we opened it to actually finish it off.
The nearest Costco is over an hour and a half away in hellish traffic. It isn’t cost effective to go there after a 3 plus hour round-trip for a small family. Aldi is more than 8.3% cheaper than Wal-Mart on the items I typically eat (cheese, crackers, cereal, produce, snacks, diary, coffee, chocolate, sourdough, etc), but their prices have skyrocketed on high inflation/high tariff items like meat, seltzer walter and frozen food. A lot of items that used to be a lot cheaper are the same price now. I used to be able to eat well on about $50 a month at Aldi. Approximately the same groceries are at least triple that now, but would be over $200 at Walmart. I don’t eat a lot of meat, but the prices are shocking everywhere. (A 3 lb package of generic not grass-fed or organic hamburger with sales tax would have been nearly $30 at Walmart last Friday. A pack of reduced chicken was $2 more than fresh was last year at the same Wal-Mart). Sooo many people live in food deserts. I am lucky to be able to drive 20-30 minutes to Walmart, grocery stores and Aldi. Many don’t have that option. The prices at Dollar General/Family Dollar for people with limited incomes are robbery.
They’re replacing all the Winn-Dixies by us with Aldi, so I’m excited to largely split my shopping between Costco and Aldi. To your last point about dollar stores – that’s the baked-in model. It’s expensive to be poor, and those stores exploit it.
I’ll never give up Publix. They have great customer service. The BOGOs and two-for-whatever usually offset the total monthly or weekly grocery bill. I have tried all of the other places, and I always go back to my happy place, which is Publix, with a few stops at Whole Foods throughout the year for their fruit and certain items.
Costco just had a crazy chicken sale AND the Kirkland tofu is stupendously cheap. I have 3 kids in the throes of puberty, and it’s incredibly expensive to feed them and feed them well. It would be under the best of circumstances, and that’s before you add in the impacts of tariffs, blockades, and war. I live in a small New Orleans house, so I can’t bulk shop like some folks can, but between prices and gas, the Costco membership has been the best thing of late.
Right now, we’re feeding 4 most of the time (kids are in college but spent a great deal of time at home), and with our kids being boys, we go through a lot of milk, cheese, protein shakes, fruit, ramen, bread, and tofu/meat (the savings on bread and milk alone are insane). Even once the kids are off on their own, we will keep the membership. We don’t buy bulk things we don’t eat or can’t share (ie, snacks are split between our house and kids’ dorms), and we’re fortunate enough to have a basement with two freezers. It’s amazing what can be frozen, lol. Also, I’ve found insane deals on household items. Like fantastic towels that have lasted us for years for $7 a pop and great sales on Woozoos, which everyone in our fam uses (old house, window A/Cs).
MrTigerMac also works close to a Costco. He can swing by anytime for whatever we need, and he drives different vehicles into work periodically to fill up on gas. We have an executive membership AND the Costco Visa, so the cash back rewards are great.
Here in the wilds of NoVA, Harris Teeter isn’t all that out of range with other stores in the area.
NC gal here, add the points discount on gas…. HT is about the same price here in Wake County as Publix and Wegmans, so on my once a month gas fill up (I WFH) I usually score 30-50 cents off a gallon. Stupid me, I never used my fuel points until the past 2 years.
I’d be very interested to see how/if that list is affected by current and future inflationary pressures thanks to our needless and preventable political “situation”
Love Costco, always shop there first, some things are too big for me solo but those I typically split.
I will always support them, as long as they continue to be the great employer they are.
I love Costco! Memberships are Costco’s #1 item, which is where a lot of their profits come from. They also won’t make more than a certain % of margin on items and, instead, pass savings along to their members. Many other retailers will simply try to make as much $ as possible.
As for their Kirkland-branded items… they often work with major manufacturers and have stricter ingredient requirements before they will put the KS brand on there. Costco does SO much volume that it’s fixed cost absorption so it can also a win for the manufacturer, especially if they are able to negotiate keeping their branded items in stores.
And I agree on the Dollar Store comment above. They tend to have high margin requirements but are playing the lowest absolute price game with a steep upcharge on a per serving / usage basis.
Regardless of where you shop, groceries are so DAMN expensive! I remember seeing a funny video a few years ago that the most expansive part of having kids isn’t the diapers or the college funds… it’s the berries. So many berries. But they are so tasty.
We’re finally getting a Costco, I’m excited, I’ve never been to one. It will open next year.
Why didn’t they cost compare Sam’s Club as part of this list?? Super weird and unhelpful!!