The Receipt · May 2026
The Receipt — May 2026 Edition
Tomatoes Lead April 2026 Grocery Moves
Released May 12, 2026 · Data through April 2026
Retrieved August 1, 2026
The Basket Report Grocery Basket Price Index rose 1.4% in April 2026, landing at $112.19 for the 24-item staple basket. The year-over-year change was +0.6%. This issue is built from BLS CPI Average Price Data for the national U.S. city average.
The number
The grocery basket changed by ▲ 1.4% in April 2026, bringing the fixed 24-item basket total to $112.19.
The headline was relatively stable, but several individual items moved sharply underneath it.
The chart
The fixed-weight Grocery Basket Price Index from January 2020 through April 2026, shown as a national U.S. city average.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics average price data. Basket Report analysis; BLS does not endorse this analysis.
What shoppers will notice
Shoppers may notice higher prices for tomatoes and ground beef, while eggs and lettuce provided some offset. These figures are national U.S. city averages, so individual store prices will vary.
What moved the 24-item basket
Dollar figures show how each weighted item changed the headline basket total in April 2026.
Milk & eggs
Milk ran $4.14 a gallon in April 2026 — up 1.7% on the month and up 1.5% on the year — 2% below the November 2022 peak of $4.22. At the fixed basket quantity that swing added $0.14 onto the tape this month. See the 2026 milk prices by month or the full milk price history.
Eggs averaged $2.25 a dozen, down 56.1% on the year and down 4.2% on the month — 64% below the March 2025 peak of $6.23. Track the swing on the egg price history or read why eggs got cheaper.
The read
Eggs did the most work on the downside, subtracting $0.20 from the fixed basket on its own. Tomatoes moved the other way, adding $0.87. That split is the story of April 2026: a few lines moved sharply while the all-in basket changed +0.6% from a year ago.
For citation, use the Grocery Basket Price Index as the headline number: $112.19 for April 2026, covering all 24 configured staples at the U.S. city average. Item pages below carry the underlying BLS series IDs, CSV/JSON downloads, charts, and embed codes for source-level follow-up.
Biggest price changes across all 36 tracked products
These percentage changes include reference-price series that do not carry weight in the 24-item basket.
| Item | Price | MoM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomatoes /pound | $2.69 | +19.2% | +50.0% |
| Romaine Lettuce /pound | $3.20 | −11.4% | +9.6% |
| Beef Roast /pound | $9.41 | +6.2% | +17.7% |
| Lettuce /pound | $1.63 | −5.2% | +7.5% |
| Eggs /dozen | $2.25 | −4.2% | −56.1% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, CPI Average Price Data. Retrieved August 1, 2026 via the BLS Public Data API. BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.