NH Ranked Least Expensive State in USA for Food Costs

New Hampshire Ranked Lowest Average Cost for Groceries

You coulda fooled me (and my wallet). New Hampshire has been named the least expensive for monthly food costs in the entire U.S.A., according to worldpopulationreview.com, and it could be because of our grocery store preferences.

Do you travel from Hannaford's in Raymond to Market Basket in Epping and Trader Joe's in Manchester just to get the best price on all the things on your grocery list? Maybe that's just me. But here in New Hampshire, we are frugal, so I'm pretty certain that I'm not the only one who takes the gas hit and does that every Saturday.

The information provided in the article from their source, Zippia.com, is a little misleading because they only polled Manchester, New Hampshire. Although I haven't compared, I would imagine that the prices are a little cheaper in Manchester than, say, Bedford or North Hampton.

According to both articles, New Hampshire spends $183.00 per month for groceries on average, compared to Hawaii, which spends $556.76 per month. Vermont comes in at the second most expensive at $497.41 per month and rounding out the top three is Alaska at $483.24 per month.

New Hampshire Prefers Market Basket

New Hampshire prefers Market Basket over the pricier stores like Whole Foods. Another discount grocer, Aldi, could be another reason why the monthly price seems so stinking low.

New Hampshire is also easily accessible via highway, so a tractor trailer coming from Connecticut or New York has easy access to the Granite State. And we're not gonna spend money like our neighbors to the south. No offense, Massachusetts.

According to Zippia, the average cost of milk in New Hampshire is $3.30, a loaf of bread on average is $2.44, and the average cost of a dozen eggs is $2.90. This is the latest information available found from 2023.

Fun Fact: Did you know that you should budget approximately 10% - 15% of your take-home pay for your daily food budget?

Also, Zippia states that there are several things you can do to cut your food costs:

Buy from a discount food store like Trader Joe's and Aldi.
Plan your meals each week. I know this is a time suck and I just CAN'T. It's all I can do to make a salad for the next day, but I'm just telling you what the experts say.
Stick to your grocery list and don't buy those extra things that suck you in, like that HUMUNGO bag of popcorn that you had to have. Now you feel a lot less money in the wallet and a lot more bloated in the butt.
You can also clip coupons (digitally now, of course).

What are some of your tips you could share for saving money at the grocery store?