CT’s rise in grocery spending is moderate compared to other states

Connecticut has seen a rise in spending on food and beverages since before the pandemic — but not to the same extent as many other states.

Connecticut, like all others for which the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides weekly retail food purchase data, saw growth in the total amount that people spent on food and beverages over an almost-four-year period. Consumers in Connecticut spent 45% more on groceries in the week ending May 7, 2023 than they did in the week ending Oct. 6, 2019.

The upward trend is in part due to inflation. According to the Consumer Price Index, which tracks changes in how much American consumers pay for various items over time, food prices rose 25% from 2019 to 2023. Year-to-year, the greatest increase was in 2022, when prices for food at home grew 11.4% from the previous year.

Food spending in the nation in 2023 was at a historic high, totaling $2.6 trillion for the whole year, according to the USDA. That figure includes both food purchases at home and away from home, such as at restaurants. The department’s weekly numbers are narrower and cover only food purchases at home — they come from scanner data gathered at a sample of retail food establishments, which include grocery, club, convenience, dollar, drug and mass merchandiser stores.

Connecticut ranked only about halfway down the list when it came to growth during this time. Other states saw bigger jumps — such as California and Utah, where statewide totals on food spending increased more than 70% between 2019 and 2023.

When looking at growth between October 2019 and the first week of the pandemic in March 2020, Connecticut fell even lower on the list.

The state did see a spike in spending in the week ending March 15, 2020. The rise in food purchases nationally during the first week of the pandemic can be attributed to consumers panic-buying and stockpiling groceries and household items due to the potential of lockdowns, according to a Congressional Research Service report from 2020.

But Connecticut's total spending only grew 23% in that time period. Meanwhile, people in some states like Florida spent 40% more on groceries during the first week of the pandemic.

Only three states — Maryland, Wyoming and Vermont — saw smaller spending jumps than Connecticut between October 2019 and the first week of the pandemic.

Connecticut's spending growth not only trails that of some other states, but it also falls behind national averages. Each week from October 2019 until May 2023, Connecticut consumers consistently spent less than consumers in each state on average.

Despite the state's comparatively minimal growth, total spending has trended upward since pre-pandemic times.

Since the uptick in total spending during the first week of the pandemic, Connecticut has seen even bigger spikes. In the week leading up to Christmas in 2022, total food and drink spending statewide reached an all-time high at $233 million. Two years prior in 2019, statewide spending in the last week of December was only $163 million, for comparison.