Food prices have risen by a shocking 33 percent since the beginning of 2019, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
According to a deep dive by Sacramento station KTXL, the reasons for this are numerous, including the COVID pandemic, bad weather, bird flu, tariffs, the Russia/Ukraine War, and now the Iran War.
“With a fresh conflict in the Middle East accelerating food price inflation again this year, the cost of filling their refrigerators, freezers and pantries has become a frustration for Americans and made affordability a central issue in the fall midterm elections,” the station correctly noted.
Republicans have pushed back by arguing that the former Biden administration is to blame for the ongoing affordability crisis:
Karoline Leavitt on the midterms: I would remind the American people who caused the affordability crisis. It was Biden and Democrats. Trump took action on day one to fix that. All these things will get better if two more years with a Republican congress. pic.twitter.com/5UIWqemvmO
— Lucas Sanders 👊🏽🔥🇺🇸 (@LucasSa56947288) July 26, 2026
Regardless of who’s to blame, what remains clear is that Americans must now contend with a new normal.
“While inflation has cooled from its peak, grocery prices have not returned to where consumers remember them,” Scott D. Martin, a partner at the Kingsview Wealth Management firm, told the New York Post.
“Food prices have effectively reset to a permanently higher level after years of supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, transportation costs, and broad inflationary pressures,” he added.
Meanwhile, wage increases have slowed, especially compared to before the pandemic, according to Jared Bernstein of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy. Other prices, think housing and electricity, have also risen.
Speaking with KTXL, urban residents “described hunting for discounts, switching brands and feeling grateful for food banks” amid these price hikes.
“Some are more cautious about buying nonessentials like takeout coffee,” the station reported. “Others are buying less meat or less food overall.”
this graph from the AP stunned me into silence pic.twitter.com/9RbaqbTpVG
— Camryn (@dancingofpens) July 28, 2026
“It’s almost like a strategy, a household strategy, where financial pressure just hasn’t disappeared, so consumers are really developing their own playbook on how to navigate it,” Sally Lyons Wyatt of the market research company Circana noted.
The struggle has been especially real for beef eaters.
“The price of a pound of ground beef reached $6.82 in June, which is 79% more than at the beginning of 2019,” according to KTXL. “Contributing factors include a shrinking U.S. cattle herd, drought in the West, and the costs of feed and fuel.”
As a result, beef eaters like Texas resident Ada Torres, 60, have given up the delicious delicacy and replaced it with chicken and cold cuts. Her kids reportedly miss her beef dishes like lasagna with ground beef, beef fajitas, and steak with plantain chips.
“Prices are sky-high,” she told the station. “One hundred dollars’ worth of groceries these days is nothing. Maybe you can bring home seven family-size items, if you manage to find a good deal.”
Leftists have seized on high beef prices to attack President Donald Trump:
While average and poor Americans struggle Trump & his rich friends are eating surf and turf dinners that cost $125 per person.
Since Trump took office, the average price of ground beef has risen every single month to a record high of more than $8 per pound.
Trump’s reckless… pic.twitter.com/Nzd7D6dzh3
— Feisty is proud to be a Democrat! (@FeistyLibLady) July 29, 2026
KXTL also spoke with Boston resident Apral Jack, who said that her meal planning begins with an app that gives her special offers and digital coupons.
“Typically, I’ll try to pick the meals based on that,” she said. “So like chicken fajitas: there was a three-day sale on chicken. I’ll sauté chicken with vegetables and rice.”
Citing U.S. Department of Agriculture data, Reuters reported that “households spent an average of 12.9% of their pre-tax income on food in 2024.” But that’s just the average. For lower income households, food took up to 33 percent of their income.
This has made life especially hard for families.
“Since I have five mouths I have to feed, basically — and then sometimes my mom, too — it’s a lot on me financially,” self-employed barber Jack Chang, 33, told KXTL.
Chang lives in San Francisco.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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