By admin January 21, 2025 – American families paid $310 more for groceries in 2025 than the previous year, according to a new report, despite messaging from the Trump administration that food affordability pressures are easing.
Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) released a report last week that compares the cost of an average American households’ weekly grocery trip. It compiles recent data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Bureau of Economic Analysis’ Personal Consumption Expenditures.
While administration officials including Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have argued food prices are going down, the latest federal data and corresponding JEC report paint a different picture.
The report identifies price increases for grocery staples such as dairy, coffee, and meat. A household buying 1.5 gallons of whole milk per week spent an estimated total $311 for that product during 2024. In 2025 that increased to $318, according to the report.
Some of the largest price increases were in a weekly bag of ground coffee, which had a $76 annual increase, and two pounds per week of raw ground beef, which had a nearly $71 jump.
December 2025 saw the largest one-month increase in grocery prices since 2022, a .7 percent spike, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data from the BLS.
“This report provides proof of what the American people are experiencing every day: Costs are too high, and Trump’s policies are only making them worse,” Senator Maggie Hassan (D-New Hampshire), ranking member of the JEC, said in a statement.
Many of the items where prices have increased, like whole milk, butter, chicken and beef, are also products that the Trump administration has encouraged people to consume more of through its updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Whole milk received an added boost from the administration through the passage and signing of a bill that allows schools to serve full-fat milk for the first time since 2010.
The updated DGAs promote whole foods like meat, dairy, and vegetables over packaged, highly processed foods. But critics have noted food affordability is still a major concern and prices could keep this diet out of reach for many Americans. (Link to this post.)
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