For the average worker, grocery prices are about as affordable as they were pre-pandemic. But the costs are still a sore spot for consumers - and a focus in the 2024 election.

For more than two years now, higher prices have been pinching consumers' wallets and testing their patience - but there's at least one part of their monthly budget that has more breathing room these days: For the average U.S. worker, it now takes fewer hours of work to afford a week's worth of groceries than it did five years ago, in August 2019.

That's according to a MarketWatch analysis of wage and inflation data that shows how the price of food relative to wages has fluctuated in recent years.

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In other words: Despite substantial postpandemic increases in food costs, wages have now more than caught up with prices in this crucial spending category. And it's easier for the average American worker to put food on the table than it was a couple of years ago.

But many consumers may not feel that way.

Absolute prices themselves - the dollar amount you pay for eggs, milk and other items at the store - are still higher than they were before. That's caused a long-lasting case of sticker shock for consumers.

Food price increases did pick up slightly in September, according to the latest consumer price index report from the Labor Department. The annual inflation rate for food at home was 1.3%, lower than the inflation rate for prices across the economy, which was 2.4%.

Groceries are a lot more affordable than other expenses like rent and insurance costs, economists say, and they sometimes don't paint a particularly meaningful picture of the economy, or of Americans' financial burdens.

In spite of that, food prices have remained top of mind for consumers, as well as in this year's presidential election, as both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have pledged to make spending on this staple more affordable for voters.

"This is a narrow sliver of what people spend their money on. But it's something that is very memorable," said Jeremy Horpedahl, an economist and director of the Arkansas Center for Economic Research. "It keeps hitting them in the head as they see these high prices, but we are headed in the right direction."

Why are higher grocery prices still so painful?

The annual inflation rate for groceries, which the government calls "food at home," has slowed significantly since peaking at about 13.5% in August 2022.

But the impact of those price increases will reverberate for years, economists said.

That's partly because most of us had gotten used to pretty consistent prices at the grocery store. Starting in the late 1990s, the "real," or inflation-adjusted, cost of food actually fell consistently. Prices were steady as wages increased - meaning that, for years, weekly grocery hauls effectively got cheaper.

There's also a classic disconnect in how economists analyze inflation in data sets versus how the majority of people experience it in their own lives. Policy makers look at the rate of change in prices, and are looking for slower increases, not lower price levels.

"Consumers," in contrast, "see prices, not inflation rates," explained Paul Shea, an economist at Bates College in Maine. Even as the inflation rate comes down, and workers earn more, consumers remain anchored to the 2019 numbers - before the pandemic and the widespread supply-chain and supply-and-demand imbalances of the following years impacted them - they remember.

Grocery prices are a hot-button issue

Especially compared with other regular expenses, grocery costs seem to be one piece of household budgets coming back into balance. Some stores have even taken the unusual step of lowering prices.

But that isn't the case for every line item on your monthly budget. Rent and other housing costs, for example, have risen at a clip that the average American's pay cannot keep up with, economists said. A similar dynamic is at play with insurance - for cars, homes and healthcare.

That puts additional strain on Americans' wallets - and can make something like more expensive groceries feel even more distressing, Horpedahl explained.

'The simple answer is that these are prices that they see the most frequently.' Economist Paul Shea on why grocery prices remain so important to consumers

You might not see car insurance come up very often on the campaign trail (though occasionally, it has). Food costs, though, have been a hot-button issue in the 2024 presidential race, being painted, and reinforced, as more or less dire depending on one's media preferences.

Inflation has ranked among the most important issues in the election this year. Both major-party candidates have addressed food costs specifically.

Trump, a Republican, posted a graphic listing higher prices for items like salmon, chicken and coffee, stating that the figures were "the cost of Kamala," referring to his Democratic rival, the current U.S. vice president.

Some prices listed on the Trump graphic don't match those recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For example, the former president's graphic stated that the price of eggs has increased to $4.99. The average price of a dozen eggs is currently $3.82, according to the BLS.

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In response to a request for comment on Trump's post, his campaign provided a statement from Republican National Committee spokesperson Taylor Rogers, who said that Harris's "dangerously liberal" economic agenda has "sent food costs soaring"

"From cereal, baked goods, chicken and beef, eggs, and milk, Americans are paying the price of Kamala's failed policies," Rogers said in a statement.

Harris has included a plan to lower grocery costs in her economic-policy agenda, including a proposed federal law against price gouging at grocery stores and food suppliers, and a more aggressive approach to combating overconsolidation in the food industry.

"We all know that prices went up during the pandemic when the supply chains shut down and failed, but our supply chains have now improved and prices are still too high," the vice president said while outlining her economic plan at a campaign event this summer.

But the candidates may be giving outsized attention to an aspect of inflation that, from an economist's point of view, seems to be coming back into balance after the pandemic.

So what explains the focus on groceries? "It's more psychological than economic," Shea explained.

Most consumers visit the grocery store and the gas station on a regular basis. Those two recurring purchases, for the majority of consumers, serve as the best gauge of how the economy is treating them - and they remain front of mind. "The simple answer is that these are prices that they see the most frequently," Shea said.

Interestingly enough, these two price categories - energy and food - are among the volatile readings that economists and policy makers often strip out when evaluating inflation data.

This doesn't mean consumers' interpretations of their own economic reality are invalid or incorrect, Shea said. Higher price levels will be a source of frustration until some impossible-to-guess point in time when we collectively adjust to a new "normal."

But it does mean that, though food costs have become much more affordable as paychecks grow, grocery prices will remain a significant focus - at the very least through Election Day.

"For me, the big question is 'How long before people get used to these higher prices?' " Shea said. "At some point, $4 for a gallon of milk becomes normal. I don't know when that is."

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