Aldi, Walmart or Costco? New Report Reveals Which Grocery Store Saves Shoppers the Most

Getting groceries these days can be an expensive and painful experience. Thanks to things like inflation and supply chain issues, food prices have been rising steadily. An analysis by NBC News showed that the prices of items like ground beef and orange juice have gone up 15.2 percent and 28.5 percent, respectively, since January 2025. 

But you can still save money at the store—if  you go to the right one. A new study has revealed which grocery chains in the U.S. are the most and least expensive, and it’s a list you’ll definitely want to have handy before you head to the store.

How the Rankings Were Created

The research, which comes courtesy of Consumer Reports and the consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, looked at 35 different chains—including stores like Costco, Trader Joe’s, Kroger, and Food Lion—in six metro areas across the U.S. (Boston, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver, Los Angeles/Southern California, and Virginia Beach). Data was collected at stores in person within the same 48-hour period. The stores were compared based on the overall price of a grocery basket that included produce, meat, and packaged foods; deals available to shoppers at the time, like discounts from loyalty cards and store sales, were factored in. 

Consumer Reports noted that “The comparisons were most robust for mainstream retailers carrying a wide selection of identical national-brand goods that could be compared across supermarkets,” while baskets from stores with private-label brands were smaller because they “have fewer items in common with Walmart,” the country’s biggest grocery retailer and the chain used as a baseline against which the other stores were ranked.

These U.S. Grocery Stores Are the Least Expensive 

Across the U.S., Consumer Reports found that six chains were less expensive than Walmart, and two of them are big warehouse clubs: Costco was ranked as the least expensive store with prices an average of 21.4 percent cheaper than Walmart nationally. It was followed by BJ’s Wholesale Club, which was 21 percent less. 

Next up were Lidl and Aldi, which were 8.5 percent and 8.3 percent cheaper, respectively. As Food & Wine points out, “Both chains rely almost exclusively on private-label inventory to keep costs low.” Finally, there are the regional chains WinCo Foods (-3.3 percent), an employee-owned chain based in the western U.S., and H-E-B (-0.2 percent), located in Texas.

Regionally, there’s more variation in the rankings, but Costco still came out on top in every metro area. However, just how much cheaper it was than Walmart varied: You’ll see the most savings in Chicago, where Costco is 28.5 percent less expensive than Walmart, and only 16.8 percent savings in Virginia Beach. In Denver, Costco is the only grocery store that’s less expensive than Walmart.

These Grocery Stores Are the Most Expensive in the U.S.

According to Consumer Reports’ research, the rest of the 28 stores in their analysis were more expensive than Walmart. Whole Foods was the most expensive chain of all, with prices an average of 39.7 percent more expensive than Walmart nationally. Whole Foods was followed by the regional chains Shaw’s (31.9 percent), El Rancho (30.1 percent), Jewel-Osco (29.7 percent), and Mariano’s (27.6 percent). Even Trader Joe’s was more expensive than consumers might be aware of—its grocery prices are nearly 25 percent more expensive than Walmart.

Regional data broke down a little differently: Whole Foods was the most expensive in Virginia Beach, Los Angeles/Southern California, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Boston, but in Chicago, Jewel-Osco was most expensive, while Trader Joe’s was the priciest grocery store in Denver.  

To learn more, or to dig down deeper into the regional data, head over to Consumer Reports.