Food Cost
The cost of food is calculated by using the Low Cost Food Plan of the US Department of Agriculture Food Plans. The Low Cost Food Plan is based on conservative and realistic assumptions about food costs and nutrition.
Between 2018 to 2022, the cost of food increased by 23 percent, from around $10,600 in 2018 to around $13,100 in 2022. However, the percentage of a median household’s income that is spent on food remained steady around 14-15%. This is in part due to the larger increase in median household income in the recent years (refer to the Median Household Income indicator).
There are large disparities in the percentage of income spent on food by race because of the racial disparity in household income.
The story is similar across counties. 10% of the median household’s income in Skamania County went to food while around 24% of the median household’s income in Whatcom County went to food in 2021.
Share of food cost over income data is calculated by dividing the annual median cost of food by the annual median income.
Feeding America’s data on food cost was used to find the variation of cost across counties (number of times a county’s cost is more than national average)
Value for the Low-Cost Food Plan is derived from the estimated cost of food for an adult (19 – 50 year old). USDA’s Low-Cost Food Plan is in line with what low- and moderate- income families report that they need to spend on food and allows greater food variety and choices to support a nutritional and palatable diet
Household income is based on ACS 5-year estimates. ACS-year estimate data are chosen over ACS 1-year estimate data because they are generally considered as more reliable for small populations and allow for the analysis of data across all 39 counties.