Tennessee residents spend the 11th-least on groceries
The current run of inflation in the U.S. economy is putting pressure on household finances nationwide.
The second half of 2021 saw several consecutive months of higher-than-usual price increases, reaching an overall 6.8-percent rate of inflation from November 2020 to November 2021.
Wages have also grown in recent months but not at a rate fast enough to keep up with inflation, which is squeezing families’ budgets in key spending categories like housing, energy, transportation, and food.
Groceries are among the areas where inflation has challenged household spending this year.
According to recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, food at home cost 6.4-percent more in 2021 than 2020, the highest year-over-year increase since the Great Recession.
Prices for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs alone increased by 12.8-percent over that span.
Continued supply-chain challenges are a primary driver of the recent price increases.
Many suppliers and distributors have struggled with labor shortages and increased transportation costs, which has made it more challenging to get food products onto grocery store shelves.
Inflation in the cost of groceries has been especially challenging for U.S. households because consumers have also been buying more groceries in general during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because food is a necessity, households were unable to avoid this increase in spending, in contrast to other categories like transportation services and energy that have seen large price increases during the pandemic but also significant drops in consumer expenditures.
The analysis found that per capita annual grocery spending in Tennessee amounts to $2,906, compared with the national average of $3,480.
Tennessee residents allocate 7.7-percent of all household spending on groceries, 11th-least among all states.