Beef Steaks, Ham, and Other Groceries That Rose in Price in the Midwest

After more than a year of historical inflation, grocery prices are staying steady. Grocery prices fell in March and April for the first time since September 2020 but changed little in May at a 0.2% increase.

The drop in recent months was largely fueled by decreases in eggs—which had previously risen dramatically over a short period of time—as well as meats, fruits and vegetables, and dairy products.

Still, inflation continued to plague shoppers. The overall cost of groceries in May remained up 6.7% from 2022—the result of historically high inflation in the past couple of years following a series of major social and economic events including the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, labor disruptions, and heightened consumer demand. Overall, inflation has cooled some but still hasn't reached pre-pandemic levels.

Despite the lull, groceries in some categories continued to climb.

Stacker used monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to find the grocery items that experienced the largest price increases over the last month in the Midwest, using year-over-year changes as a tiebreaker where needed. For this analysis, the Midwest includes Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Stacker excluded some hyper-specific meat categories in order to better understand grocery price fluctuations more broadly.