Why Are Grocery Store Prices So High

According to the Economic Research Service at the Department of Agriculture, prices across all food categories are expected to rise 3.2 percent in 2026. Today, Jessica Cheung, a senior audio producer for “The Daily,” talks with the general manager of a food co-op in Pittsburgh about how the store is being affected by the quickly increasing costs. Guest: Jessica Cheung, a senior audio producer on “The Daily” for The New York Times. Tyler Kulp, general manager of the East End Food Co-op Background reading: Walmart said last week that it would lower some prices. While shoppers there and at other grocery stores may get better deals on some items, their overall grocery bill is unlikely to fall. In a survey, roughly 35 percent of Americans identified food as the single biggest source of financial pressure. A U.S.D.A. official called grocery chains to lower the price of beef. Photo: Rachel Wisniewski for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.