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NPR shopped for 96 items at Walmart to track how prices are really changing

January 14, 2025 - from NPR:

"NPR set off to answer that question at the most popular retailer in the United States. For six years, we have tracked the prices of dozens of items at this very Walmart superstore. And here's what we learned on our latest visit, in December.

"NPR's list includes 96 items from virtually every Walmart aisle: chips and veggies, shampoo and T-shirts, dog food and paper towels. To account for changes in package sizes, we focus on the price per unit, typically per ounce, whether it's toothpaste in a tube or soup in a can.

"Over the course of 2024, the tracked prices on average increased just 0.7% — far less than overall annual inflation, which was 2.7% in November.

"That's because exactly half of our tracked prices stayed the same from December 2023 to December 2024 — a notable relief after the COVID-19 pandemic, when most prices jumped year to year because of turmoil in supply chains and labor markets.

"Twenty-one items in NPR's shopping cart actually got cheaper during the year, including garlic, bananas and salmon. Another 27 products got more expensive, including eggs, ground beef and laundry detergent.

"Items in NPR's shopping cart are much pricier since mid-2019, our last check before the pandemic. On average, those tracked prices have increased around 25%. And that's not far from federal inflation data: Cumulatively, U.S. prices are up 23% since 2019.

"2019 prices will stay in the past. Big price increases are rarely followed by equally big price decreases, historically. That's because seismic shifts in the global economy cannot simply be undone."