USDA food prices family grocery budget calculator

How much should a family spend on food? Each month, the USDA publishes an index of the price of food, to be used for government programs that feed people, budget estimates, and now you! There are different ranges, from thifty to liberal. My family uses the Moderate plan to set our food budget, and then we know what portion of our "needs" is allocated for food.

This calculator lets you enter how many people are in your family, and tells you the recommended budgets. For example, if you're a single parent feeding three teenage sons (egads) enter a 3 in the 14-19 year old male range, and 1 for yourself in the adult range. It is based on August 2023 prices. The prices do not change dramatically from month to month.

Privacy note: As with all my calculators I do not save any numbers you put in this form. It's all you, all on the browser side.

Child	Your family	Thifty	Low-cost	Moderate	Liberal
1 year		$109	$156	$177	$213
2-3 years		$164	$164	$197	$239
4-5 years		$179	$170	$210	$253
6-8 years		$199	$241	$288	$336
9-11 years		$231	$256	$331	$385
Male
12-13 years		$247	$300	$372	$435
14-19 years		$311	$304	$381	$442
20-50 years		$303	$300	$376	$457
51-70 years		$267	$283	$355	$423
Over 70		$254	$280	$345	$421
Female
12-13 years		$213	$255	$305	$377
14-19 years		$247	$255	$303	$375
20-50 years		$242	$260	$317	$405
51-70 years		$224	$254	$314	$377
Over 70		$247	$252	$311	$372

Thrifty:
Low-cost:
Moderate:
Liberal: