Grocery Costs in Texas
How much do groceries cost in Texas?
A family of four in Texas spends about $948 a month on groceries, $11,378 a year, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator's food cost estimates. That puts Texas about 12% below the median state. Here is the full picture for Texas households, and how to come in under it. Texas is one of the kinder states for a grocery budget: the MIT figure sits about 12% under the median state ($1,074 a month).
A family of four in Texas spends about $948 a month on groceries, $11,378 a year, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator's food cost estimates. That puts Texas about 12% below the median state. Here is the full picture for Texas households, and how to come in under it.
Monthly grocery costs in Texas by household
| Household | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Family of four (2 adults, 2 children) | $948 | $11,378 |
| Family of two (2 adults) | $594 | $7,128 |
| One adult | $324 | $3,888 |
| Per person, in a family of four | $237 | $2,844 |
MIT Living Wage Calculator food estimates. MIT builds its food figures from the USDA low cost food plan and adjusts them for price levels in each state, Texas included. For Texas, the figures cover food made and eaten at home.
How Texas compares
Texas is one of the kinder states for a grocery budget: the MIT figure sits about 12% under the median state ($1,074 a month). Over a year, a family of four in Texas spends about $1,508 less on groceries than the same family in the median state, which is real money in a Texas family budget: roughly a month of childcare in a cheaper state, or a solid start on an emergency fund. Food is labor, land and transport priced locally, which is why the Texas state line moves this number so much.
Shopping where Texans actually shop
Texas grocery shopping runs through H-E-B, the San Antonio chain that anchors most of the state's metros and holds shoppers with store brands priced to keep families loyal; Walmart is the other giant, and Kroger is strong around Houston and Dallas. Texas does not tax most groceries: food bought to prepare at home is exempt from sales tax, while prepared foods are taxed, which quietly makes every benchmark on this page easier to hit than in a state that taxes food. If the budget still does not stretch, Texas pays SNAP benefits through the Lone Star Card and runs Texas WIC for pregnant and postpartum mothers and children under five, both administered by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. One caution for families budgeting around wages: Texas still uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, unchanged since 2009, so one full-time minimum-wage income lands far under the family-of-four food benchmark above.
Budgeting by family size in Texas instead? Texas households can also start from the USDA food plan figures for a family of four and the rest of the family size tables, then run your real numbers in the grocery budget calculator. If your income is tight in Texas, check the maximum SNAP benefits by household size too.
Frequently asked questions
How much do groceries cost per month in Texas?
The MIT Living Wage Calculator puts food costs in Texas at $948 a month for a family of four (two adults and two children), $11,378 a year. In Texas, two adults come to $594 a month and one adult to $324 a month. The Texas figures cover food prepared and eaten at home, not restaurants.
How does Texas compare with other states?
Texas ranks 1 of 50 states for a family of four, about 12% below the median state of $1,074 a month. The cheapest state in the MIT data is Texas at $948 a month and the most expensive is Hawaii at $1,319 a month; Texas comes in at $948 a month.
How can I spend less than the Texas figure?
Treat the Texas numbers as budget benchmarks, not a floor. For a Texas family, meal planning around store sales, cooking once and eating twice, and keeping a running pantry list routinely trim 10% or more. On Texas's family of four figure, 10% is about $95 a month, $1,140 a year. Our grocery budget calculator helps you compare your real Texas spend with this benchmark.
Keep exploring
Neighboring states in the alphabet: Tennessee · Utah
All states: grocery costs by state and family size · Tools: Grocery budget calculator · Family budget planner
Source: MIT Living Wage Calculator (livingwage.mit.edu), food cost estimates by state and household size, retrieved 2026-10-18. For Texas, MIT starts from the USDA low cost food plan and adjusts for state price levels. The Texas figures are planning benchmarks for food at home, not a quote for any one store.