How much should groceries cost for a family of 4 in 2026? USDA's four food plans, from $236 to $387 a week

By Rachel Whitfield·October 6, 2026·8 min read·Grocery budgets

Last updated October 6, 2026. We revise figures when USDA or BLS publish new data.

USDA food plan cost for a family of four, August 2026: $236 to $387 a week

⚡ The short version

USDA publishes four monthly grocery budgets. For August 2026 a family of four (two adults, children 6-8 and 9-11) comes to $236.30 a week on the Thrifty plan, $259.80 Low-cost, $320.50 Moderate-cost and $387.40 Liberal.
Per month that is $1,023.70, $1,125.80, $1,388.20 and $1,678.70. The Thrifty figure is the one that sets the maximum SNAP benefit.
Singles add 20 percent, couples add 10 percent to the per-person figures; households of five or six subtract 5 percent (USDA adjustment rules).
USDA forecasts grocery prices up 2.4 percent for 2026 overall, with beef up 9.4 percent and eggs down 29.4 percent, so where you land inside the range depends on what is in the cart.

Key facts

The USDA Thrifty Food Plan cost for the reference family of four (male and female aged 20-50, two children aged 6-8 and 9-11) was $236.30 per week and $1,023.70 per month in August 2026 (USDA Food and Nutrition Administration, Official USDA Thrifty Food Plan: U.S. Average, August 2026, issued September 2026).
For the same four people, our arithmetic on USDA's per-person tables gives $259.80 per week ($1,125.80 per month) on the Low-cost plan, $320.50 per week ($1,388.20 per month) on the Moderate-cost plan and $387.40 per week ($1,678.70 per month) on the Liberal plan (USDA, Cost of Food at Home at Three Levels, August 2026; adult rows are 19-50 years in these three plans).
USDA's adjustment rule for household size: one person add 20 percent, two people add 10 percent, three add 5 percent, four no adjustment, five or six subtract 5 percent, seven or more subtract 10 percent (USDA, footnote 2 of both reports).
The U.S. city average price of 100% ground beef was $6.923 per pound in August 2026 (up 9.6 percent in a year) and a dozen grade A large eggs was $2.272 (down 36.7 percent) (Bureau of Labor Statistics, average price data, August 2026).
USDA's Economic Research Service forecasts food-at-home prices up 2.4 percent in 2026, in a range of 1.8 to 3.0 percent (Food Price Outlook, September 25, 2026).

The honest answer to "how much should groceries cost" is that the government already publishes one, every month, and almost nobody reads it. USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion prices four market baskets, from a bare-bones Thrifty plan to a Liberal one, for every age and sex, and adds them up for a reference family of four. The August 2026 tables came out in September. Here they are, with the per-person rows so you can build your own household, and a second table of what 14 staples actually cost at the register in August, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The four USDA budgets for a family of four

USDA food plan (August 2026)	Per week	Per month
Thrifty (the SNAP benchmark)	$236.30	$1,023.70
Low-cost	$259.80	$1,125.80
Moderate-cost	$320.50	$1,388.20
Liberal	$387.40	$1,678.70

The reference family is two adults and two children aged 6-8 and 9-11. The Thrifty row is USDA's own total. The other three rows are our arithmetic from USDA's per-person tables, because USDA prints a family total only for the Thrifty plan. One quirk to know: the Thrifty plan uses adult age bands of 20-50, the other three plans use 19-50, so the sums are not perfectly aligned; the difference is cents, not dollars.

All four plans assume every meal and snack is made at home. Restaurant meals, delivery and the coffee on the way to work are on top of these numbers, not inside them.

Per-person weekly costs, by age (August 2026)

Person	Thrifty	Low-cost	Moderate	Liberal
Child, 1 year	$26.40	$38.10	$42.90	$52.20
Child, 2-3 years	$39.80	$40.10	$47.80	$58.20
Child, 4-5 years	$43.50	$41.30	$51.10	$61.80
Child, 6-8 years	$48.30	$60.50	$70.30	$82.20
Child, 9-11 years	$55.80	$62.50	$80.70	$94.00
Female, 12-13	$51.70	$62.20	$74.20	$92.50
Female, 14-19 (14-18 in the three upper plans)	$60.00	$62.40	$74.60	$92.20
Female, 20-50 (19-50)	$58.50	$63.60	$77.60	$99.00
Female, 51-70	$54.50	$62.00	$76.40	$92.10
Female, 71+	$60.10	$61.90	$76.10	$91.00
Male, 12-13	$59.70	$73.10	$90.60	$106.30
Male, 14-19 (14-18)	$75.30	$74.40	$93.10	$109.30
Male, 20-50 (19-50)	$73.60	$73.20	$91.90	$112.20
Male, 51-70	$64.90	$69.00	$86.50	$103.60
Male, 71+	$61.90	$68.30	$83.90	$103.30

Source: USDA Food and Nutrition Administration, Official USDA Food Plans, U.S. Average, August 2026 (Thrifty; Low-cost, Moderate-cost and Liberal), issued September 2026. Weekly figures; USDA computes monthly as weekly × 4.333. Costs are for people in four-person households; apply the household-size adjustment below for other sizes.

Build your own number

Add the weekly figure for each person in your home, then apply USDA's adjustment: one person add 20 percent, two people add 10 percent, three add 5 percent, four none, five or six subtract 5 percent, seven or more subtract 10 percent. A few worked examples, all our arithmetic on the August tables:

One adult, 20-50, living alone: Thrifty $88.30 a week for a man ($73.60 × 1.2) or $70.20 for a woman; Moderate $110.30 or $93.10.
A couple, 20-50: Thrifty $145.30 a week (about $630 a month); Moderate $186.50 a week (about $808 a month).
Two adults and a toddler (2-3): Thrifty ($73.60 + $58.50 + $39.80) × 1.05 = $180.50 a week; Moderate ($91.90 + $77.60 + $47.80) × 1.05 = $228.20.
Two adults and three children (6, 10, 15-year-old boy): Thrifty ($73.60 + $58.50 + $48.30 + $55.80 + $75.30) × 0.95 = $295.90 a week; Moderate ($91.90 + $77.60 + $70.30 + $80.70 + $93.10) × 0.95 = $392.90.

If you spend more than the Liberal figure for your household, you are paying for convenience, restaurant-quality ingredients or waste. If you spend less than Thrifty, you are either very good at this or skipping food groups. Our calculator takes the next step and tells you how much of your basket sits in tariff-exposed items.

What 14 staples cost right now (BLS, August 2026)

The USDA plans are market baskets updated with price indexes. For actual shelf prices, the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes monthly U.S. city averages for about 150 items. The ones that matter most for a family budget:

Item (BLS U.S. city average)	Aug 2026	Aug 2025	Change
Ground beef, 100% beef, per lb	$6.92	$6.32	+9.6%
Chicken breast, boneless, per lb	$4.17	$4.21	-0.9%
Chicken, whole, per lb	$2.01	$2.08	-3.1%
Bacon, sliced, per lb	$6.61	$7.21	-8.4%
Eggs, grade A large, per dozen	$2.27	$3.59	-36.7%
Milk, whole, per gallon	$4.23	$4.17	+1.4%
Cheddar cheese, per lb	$5.98	$6.12	-2.3%
Bread, white, per lb	$1.82	$1.84	-1.0%
Rice, white long grain, per lb	$1.11	$1.06	+4.9%
Coffee, ground roast, per lb	$9.30	$8.87	+4.8%
Sugar, white, per lb	$1.02	$1.04	-1.5%
Bananas, per lb	$0.65	$0.67	-2.1%
Oranges, navel, per lb	$1.71	$1.80	-4.8%
Potatoes, white, per lb	$0.98	$1.00	-2.5%

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data (series APU0000703112, FF1101, 706111, 704111, 708111, 709112, 710212, 702111, 701312, 717311, 715211, 711211, 711311, 712112), August 2026 and August 2025; percentage changes are our arithmetic. Eggs are the swing item: a dozen cost $3.59 a year ago and $2.27 now. Ground beef went the other way, up 60 cents a pound. That is why two households with the same USDA plan can be $30 a week apart.

Where the money goes in 2026

USDA's September outlook has groceries up 2.4 percent for the year, a touch under the 20-year average, with the spread inside it wider than usual: beef and veal +9.4 percent, fresh vegetables +5.7 percent, sugar and sweets +6.6 percent, eggs -29.4 percent, dairy +0.1 percent (USDA ERS, September 25, 2026). Tariffs land on top of that for imported lines, which is the subject of this site. The practical reading: a family that eats a lot of ground beef, coffee and imported cheese is running above the USDA plan for its size in 2026; a family that leans on eggs, chicken, rice, beans and store-brand bread is running below it.

Three things keep a household at or under its plan in this market. Buy protein by the month, not the week: ground beef on the weekly markdown into the freezer, eggs at $2.27 as the default dinner protein twice a week. Buy the long-haul produce frozen and the short-haul produce fresh; the Price Watch has the current truck rates. And move ten name-brand items to store brands, which is worth $30-40 a month at the Moderate plan and has no tariff exposure at all. The tariff-proof grocery list is built on exactly that.

What it means for your cart: if you have four people at home and spend between $1,024 and $1,679 a month on groceries, you are inside the government's own range for August 2026. Above $1,679 and the first places to look are meat, coffee, snacks and anything imported; the food prices 2026 tracker shows which of those are still rising. We update this page when USDA posts the next monthly report.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does USDA say a family of 4 should spend on groceries in 2026?

For August 2026, USDA's four food plans put a family of four (two adults, children 6-8 and 9-11) at $236.30 a week on the Thrifty plan, $259.80 Low-cost, $320.50 Moderate-cost and $387.40 Liberal, or $1,024 to $1,679 a month. The Thrifty total is USDA's own figure; the other three are our sums of USDA's per-person rows.

What is the Thrifty Food Plan used for?

It is the basis for the maximum SNAP benefit. The reference family's Thrifty cost, $1,023.70 a month in August 2026, is the number Congress defined for that purpose in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008; smaller households get less and larger ones more.

How much should one person spend on groceries a month?

Take the weekly figure for your age and sex, multiply by 4.333 for the month, then add 20 percent because single-person households cost more per head. A man aged 20-50 comes to about $383 a month on the Thrifty plan and $478 on the Moderate plan; a woman the same age about $304 and $403 (USDA August 2026 tables, our arithmetic).

Are grocery prices going up in 2026?

On average, modestly: USDA forecasts food-at-home prices up 2.4 percent for 2026. The spread is what matters. Beef is forecast up 9.4 percent and eggs down 29.4 percent, and tariff-exposed imports such as coffee, olive oil and European cheese are running well above the average. Our ranking of which foods cost more has the full list.

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Rachel Whitfield

Rachel covers food economics, household budgeting, and consumer strategies for beating grocery inflation. She is the author of The Tariff-Proof Kitchen.