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.
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