Although inflation has declined in recent years, a new study shows that Tennesseans are still spending a large portion of their paychecks on groceries.

A study from Consumer Affairs compared data from the US Census Bureau from 2022 to 2023 and found that Tennesseans spent about 2 percent more than the national average of their monthly income on groceries.

The cost of food became more of my paycheck each month. It appears to have doubled in size, said Scott Saunders, a resident.

According to data from the US Census Bureau, US households spent an average of almost 6% more on food in 2023 compared to 2022.

But in Tennessee, grocery bills have risen even higher.

The study shows that Tennesseans spent about 15 percent of their monthly income on food alone in 2023, which is higher than the national average of 13 percent.

When I look at the receipt at the end of the day, once we went shopping. But we tend to shop at several places in a day. And so when you look at all these comparison shops, they seem to be the same high, Saunders said.

The study reports that nearly every state saw a 1 percent or less increase in the share of household income spent on food between 2022 and 2023.

However, food prices are still a major expense for Americans due to an increase in inflation due to economic shocks from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cost of living adjustments are not as common as food increases. So I feel like most people probably feel that way these days, Saunders said.

In Tennessee, the average monthly grocery bill in 2023 was $1,175, with an average monthly income of $7,848.

Saunders says she usually goes shopping for a week and a half, and for two people, it adds up to about $120.

It depends if we do dinner, lunch, breakfast, all kinds of things. Because even the cost of eating at restaurants is high, so we try to account for that by buying more groceries, Saunders said.

Although the Consumer Affairs study did not include data from 2024, the US Census Bureau reported that food prices in August 2024 were about 2% higher than they were a year earlier.