Grocery Prices Are Pushing Working Americans Into Debt

Grocery prices have become the top financial concern for American households, surpassing housing and healthcare. A survey of 30,000 Americans conducted by the McKinsey Institute for Economic Mobility and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found that 90% of respondents named food and grocery costs as their leading source of financial stress. Food-at-home prices have risen roughly 25% over the past five years, a trend that predates any single election cycle or administration and cuts across income levels.

The clearest evidence of the strain shows up in how people are paying for food. According to a survey by Omnisend, 30% of consumers have used credit cards to cover essentials in the past three months without expecting to pay off the balance in full. Twenty percent have borrowed from friends or family, and 18% have used buy now, pay later services. A separate Urban Institute survey found that nearly 1 in 5 adults used personal savings to pay for groceries in 2025, while nearly 1 in 20 relied on payday advance loans.

Buy now, pay later financing for groceries has grown especially quickly. The share of BNPL users applying the service to grocery purchases nearly doubled in two years, from 14% to 29%. Roughly a third of those borrowers have already missed a payment, risking fees or other penalties. Credit card behavior tells a similar story. Among adults aged 18 to 64, about 35% pay off grocery-related credit card balances in full each month, while 19.6% carry a balance and make only minimum payments, and 8.7% don't always manage even that.

Rising fuel costs are adding a secondary layer of pressure, as renewed conflict between the U.S. and Iran pushed oil prices higher. Because fuel costs factor into food transport and production, higher gas prices tend to filter into grocery bills over time, compounding a squeeze that was already building before this latest spike.

Public opinion on who bears responsibility is split. In the Omnisend survey, 85% of respondents said they believe businesses use inflation as a justification for larger-than-necessary price increases, while 45% said they hold government more responsible than businesses for rising costs overall.

With midterm elections approaching, grocery affordability is likely to surface as a political talking point. But the debt data reflects something that exists independent of the campaign cycle. A growing share of Americans, across income brackets and political lines, are relying on credit, savings, or borrowed money to keep up with the cost of eating.

Grocery debt is different from most other forms of consumer borrowing. A purchase like an appliance or a piece of furniture is a one-time expense that can be paid down over a fixed period until the debt resolves. Groceries are recurring and unavoidable, which means debt taken on to cover one week's shopping trip reduces the funds available for the next one, pushing some households toward carrying a balance indefinitely rather than paying it off. The nearly one-third of grocery BNPL borrowers who have already missed a payment, and the roughly 28% of credit card users making only minimum payments or less, point to this pattern already taking hold. Because the interest and fees on that debt come out of the same household budget, they also reduce what's left for discretionary spending on retail, entertainment, and services, extending the effect beyond grocery bills alone.

This is a systemic problem, not a political one. Grocery affordability is likely to be a prominent issue heading into this year’s high-stakes midterms. Politicians tend to say what they need to say to win votes, then set the core issue aside until the next election cycle rolls around. Americans on both sides of the political divide live this reality every day.

Written with AI assistance; edited and fact-checked by the author.

Photo Credit: by Kovina Đurić from Unsplash.