Grocery prices in the St. Louis area may seem reasonable compared to other parts of the country. Take eggs, which became a symbol of the nation’s high grocery prices during the 2024 presidential campaign.
As of mid-January, depending on the store and brand, you might pay $2.19 (Aldi’s Goldhen brand) or $4.89 (Eggland’s Best at Schnucks). By comparison, you could pay anywhere between $3 and $6.50 for a dozen large eggs in other parts of the country.
But consider this: In 2020, St. Louis-area shoppers could buy a dozen eggs for under $2.
“That was great,” said Tim O’Sullivan as he loaded groceries into his pickup truck outside a Schnucks in Maplewood in January. “I was in college in those days, and we ate a lot of eggs.
The Maplewood resident, father of a toddler, said every trip to the grocery store reminds him of rising prices.
“It’s not even just one thing,” O’Sullivan said. “It all just keeps getting more expensive, less affordable.”
Donald Trump used the word “affordable” often while campaigning for president in 2024.
“Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again,” Trump said at an August campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. A few months later, at a campaign event in Pittsburgh, he said: “A vote for Trump means your groceries will be cheaper.”
But, grocery prices remain high. The Consumer Price Index for the St. Louis region, which includes the Metro East, shows that prices for food rose 3% between December 2024 and December 2025, about the same for the rest of the country.
The national inflation rate remains at 2.7%, the same as when Trump took office. The Federal Reserve Bank sets 2% as a target rate for rate of price increases.
A September 2025 survey from Axios and The Harris Poll showed nearly half of Americans said groceries have become harder to afford since 2024. A December 2025 poll from Politico and Public First revealed that groceries were frequently cited by respondents as the most challenging thing to afford.
Simply put, said Charles Gascon, an economist and assistant vice president at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, affordability is the relationship between how much things cost and how much money we have.
“Prices have grown faster than wages and incomes, so things have gotten much more costly relative to income,” he said.
“Many people are still feeling sticker shock for everyday items where the price is materially higher than it was just a few years ago,” said Rebecca Patterson, an economist and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “They feel like they can't afford certain things anymore.”
Data shows that grocery prices have increased by 30% nationwide since the start of the COVID pandemic, when supply chain disruptions, increased demand, labor shortages and transportation costs collided. Patterson said a number of factors have kept prices high and placed affordability in the spotlight.
“It's really the last five years that have taken this issue from back to front burner for Americans,” Patterson said. “First we had the supply shock from the pandemic. The Russian invasion of Ukraine added to inflation for some commodities, and then the increased need for power for data centers and broader domestic and commercial use has helped push up electricity prices. Over the last year, tariffs have increased prices of certain goods as well.”
In fact, a new study from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy found that Americans are bearing 96% percent of the costs incurred under Trump’s tariff policies.
Gascon said overall inflation rates in the St. Louis region are similar to other parts of the country, Affordability is a different matter because other costs are rising, too.
“There are certain things that I need to buy,” he said. “I have to buy housing. I need to pay for health care if I get sick. So as those things go up and they take up a greater and greater share of your budget on things that you have to consume, other things in the world that we consume seem even more expensive relative to the amount of disposable income we have.”
As prices for beef, orange juice and other items continue to creep up, there’s good news about eggs. The price of a dozen started coming down last April. Economists cited the drop in bird flu outbreaks at commercial poultry operations.
Meanwhile, Patterson said, the overall inflation rate shows signs of slowing, but: “The fact that we have positive inflation means prices are still rising. They are just rising more slowly than in past years.”
So far, O’Sullivan — the Maplewood shopper — hasn’t changed his habits when grocery shopping for his family.
“I know there are bargain stores, but I like Schnucks even if it’s a little more expensive.”
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METHODOLOGY:
For this story, Holly Edgell reviewed presidential campaign remarks during which Donald Trump addressed inflation and high food prices. She consulted data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index and other sources of data about food prices. Daniel Wheaton analyzed the CPI to produce the graphics in this article. Edgell interviewed an economist and assistant vice president in the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank’s research division. She also used information received via email from an economist and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. She interviewed a local shopper in Maplewood, Missouri.
REFERENCES
Trump’s Economic Promises Timeline (Rep. Lloyd Doggett website | 2025)
Groceries are Americans’ top affordability concern (POLITICO | Nov. 21, 2025)
President Trump Remarks on the Economy (C-SPAN | Dec. 9, 2025)
Consumer Price Index (Bureau of Labor Statistics | December 2025)
Why are food prices so high? (Marketplace | Jan. 5, 2026)
Graphic: Track grocery price trends (NBC News | Jan. 13, 2026)
Americaʼs Own Goal: Who Pays the Tariffs? (Kiel Institute for the World Economy | January 2026)
Trump declares defeat of inflation despite 2.7 percent hike (The Hill | Jan. 13, 2026)
TYPE OF ARTICLE
News – Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
