Walmart built an empire on the promise of low prices. But at the grocery store, Walmart isn’t the cheapest place to shop in 45 of the 50 states.

Brand loyalty at the supermarket is one of the most expensive habits I know. Most of us shop where we always have, and never check whether the store down the road would fill the same cart for less.

So here’s the cheapest grocery store in every state, A to Z — plus the priciest chain, so you know which one is costing you the most.

Don’t stop at your state, though. After the list, I’ll show you when a $65 Costco membership pays for itself (it’s sooner than you think), what to do if the cheap store isn’t close by, and an app that rewards you for grocery receipts you’re already getting — plus easy ways to earn extra cash for the grocery fund.

How this list was built

In late summer 2025, Consumer Reports and a retail consulting firm, Strategic Resource Group, priced a basket of everyday groceries at dozens of chains in six metro areas. Walmart was the yardstick everyone else was measured against.

The winners, among stores anyone can walk into: Lidl, at 8.5% below Walmart, and Aldi, at 8.3% below. The priciest was Whole Foods, at 39.7% above Walmart.

Then Freedom Debt Relief, a debt-relief company, used those Consumer Reports rankings to name the cheapest and priciest chain in each state, as Newsweek reported in August. That’s where the “cheapest” and “priciest” picks below come from.

One catch you should know: These are national price gaps, not prices measured in your state. Your local store could do a little better or a little worse. But it’s the best starting point available.

Warehouse clubs were cheaper still. Consumer Reports found Costco 21.4% below Walmart and BJ’s 21% below — before membership fees. The state analysis left the clubs out, so I added a membership line to every state myself.

The cheapest grocery store in every state

Each entry shows the cheapest store that doesn’t require a membership, the cheapest if you’ll pay for one, and, where available, the priciest major chain.

• Alabama: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Alaska: Walmart. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Safeway.
• Arizona: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Arkansas: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• California: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Colorado: Walmart. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 40% more than Walmart.
• Connecticut: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Delaware: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Trader Joe’s, about 36% more than Lidl.
• Florida: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Georgia: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• Hawaii: Walmart. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 40% more than Walmart.
• Idaho: WinCo. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 44% more than WinCo.
• Illinois: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Indiana: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Iowa: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Kansas: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Kentucky: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Louisiana: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Maine: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Maryland: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Massachusetts: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Michigan: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Minnesota: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Mississippi: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Missouri: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Montana: WinCo. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 44% more than WinCo.
• Nebraska: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Nevada: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• New Hampshire: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• New Jersey: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• New Mexico: Walmart. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 40% more than Walmart.
• New York: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• North Carolina: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• North Dakota: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Albertsons, about 36% more than Aldi.
• Ohio: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Oklahoma: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Oregon: WinCo. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 44% more than WinCo.
• Pennsylvania: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• Rhode Island: Aldi. With a membership: BJ’s. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• South Carolina: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• South Dakota: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Safeway.
• Tennessee: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Texas: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Utah: WinCo. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 44% more than WinCo.
• Vermont: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Shaw’s, about 44% more than Aldi.
• Virginia: Lidl. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 53% more than Lidl.
• Washington: WinCo. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 44% more than WinCo.
• West Virginia: Aldi. With a membership: no Costco or BJ’s yet.
• Wisconsin: Aldi. With a membership: Costco. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 52% more than Aldi.
• Wyoming: Walmart. With a membership: no Costco or BJ’s yet. Priciest: Whole Foods, about 40% more than Walmart.

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Why Aldi and Lidl keep winning

Aldi takes 32 states. Lidl takes eight, mostly along the East Coast. WinCo, which came in about 3.3% below Walmart, wins five states in the West. Walmart wins only in states where none of those three had stores when the analysis was done.

Here’s something the rankings hide: Lidl and Aldi finished just 0.2 percentage points apart. That’s a tie. If you live in a Lidl state and there’s an Aldi closer to home, shop the closer one.

What does switching actually save? Say your family spends $150 a week at Walmart. The same groceries at Aldi would run about $12.45 less — roughly $650 a year, just for changing stores.

If you shop at Whole Foods, the math gets dramatic. Spend $150 a week there, and the same groceries would cost about $98 at Aldi. Over a year, that’s more than $2,600 back in your pocket.

Not sure where your grocery money goes right now? A simple budget will show you, fast.

We covered the national rankings in more detail in “These Are the Cheapest Grocery Stores Across America in 2026” and “Think Walmart Has the Cheapest Groceries? These 6 Stores Are Actually Cheaper.”

When a Costco membership pays for itself

Costco’s basic membership costs $65 a year, and BJ’s costs $60. Here’s the CPA math on whether it’s worth it.

Compared with Walmart, Costco’s 21.4% discount covers the $65 fee once you buy groceries that would cost about $304 a year at Walmart. That’s under $6 a week.

Compared with Aldi, the gap is smaller, so the bar is higher: groceries that would cost about $455 a year at Aldi, or roughly $9 a week.

Back to that $150-a-week family: Buying the same groceries at Costco instead of Walmart would save about $32 a week. That’s roughly $1,670 a year — about $1,600 after the fee.

Now the catch. Those savings assume you buy the same things you’d buy anyway. Warehouse clubs sell in bulk, and a giant bag of spinach you end up throwing out isn’t a bargain. If you’re shopping for one or two, be honest about what you’ll use.

Costco has warehouses in every state except Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming. Rhode Island’s first is planned for Smithfield, with an opening targeted for 2028. BJ’s, found mostly in the East, operates in 22 states.

Already a member and wondering whether to stay? Read “6 Reasons to Think Twice Before Renewing Your Costco Membership” and learn the secret code on Costco’s price tags.

No cheap store nearby? Do this instead

Driving 30 minutes to save $10 isn’t a win once you count gas and time. If the winner in your state isn’t close by, you can still shrink the bill where you already shop.

Start with store brands. Many are nearly identical to the name brands, as we explained in “12 Generic Groceries That Are Identical to Name Brands.”

Next, read the unit price on the shelf tag, not the sticker price. The bigger package isn’t always the better deal.

And be careful with delivery. Ordering from a cheap store through an app can wipe out the savings, as we found in “Costco Delivery Is Everywhere Now. Here’s the Markup Nobody Shows You.” For more ideas, see “21 Ways to Save Money on Food and Still Eat Well.”

More ways to stretch your grocery money

Picking the right store is the biggest step. These can squeeze out a little more:

• Get rewarded for the shopping you already do. With the Fetch app, you snap a photo of your receipt after you shop and earn points you can trade for gift cards from retailers like Amazon and Target.
• Let your card pay you back. Some credit cards pay extra rewards at supermarkets. That only makes sense if you pay the balance in full every month. If you do, you can compare cards here.
• Close the gap with extra income. If groceries still squeeze your budget, a few extra dollars a week helps. Here are ways to make extra money on your own schedule.

The bottom line

Find your state above. Then try the cheaper store for one month and compare your receipts. If the list is right for your town, you’ve just handed yourself a raise — and it took nothing more than a different parking lot.