Which Is Cheaper: Organic Or Non-Organic Groceries?

There has been a large increase in health-consciousness during recent years in the United States. This has been largely propelled by influencers on social media apps like TikTok, podcasts like the Andrew Huberman's "Huberman Lab," and political movements like "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) pushed by political figures like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to data gathered by the CDC from 2023, around one in three (35%) of American adults are considered obese. However, other studies highlighted by the NIH suggest even more alarming data, such as that as many as 74% of American adults are considered overweight.

These statistics have largely been blamed on the content of our food supply in this country. According to a study done by the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the issue appears to be that unhealthy, processed, packaged foods in this country are simply more affordable than nutritious alternatives. Inflation in America is definitely not making solving this issue any easier (check out the sneaky reason your grocery bill keeps going up) as grocery prices are certainly more expensive than ever before. It's also worth noting that per this concerning prediction for grocery prices in 2025, it doesn't appear that a trip to the grocery store this year is going to be saving you any more money than it did in 2024. That being said, let's get down to the facts of this situation to figure out whether organic or non-organic groceries are cheaper, and potentially the reason why.

According to a survey done by the Cleveland Clinic, almost half of Americans believe that healthy or organic food is too expensive for them to be consistently purchasing. Now if you've ever shopped at a grocery store like Whole Foods, which is widely known for having pricey organic options, then it definitely would appear as though this common belief among Americans is the case. However, a study done by PlushCare actually suggests that healthy food may or may not be as expensive as many believe, depending on where you live in the country.

In this study, PlushCare measured the prices of food at over 180 Target stores across the country compared to the national median cost. Overall it was discovered that healthy, organic food is 3.70 times more expensive than unhealthy options. At the same time, there are some states where healthy food is significantly more expensive than the national average, and other states where it is considerably less. In Hawaii, for example, healthy food is almost 28% more expensive than the national average, followed by New York at 17.01%, Alaska at 14.66%, Massachusetts at 10.53%, and Wyoming at 6.94%. On the other hand, there were 25 states where healthy food was actually less expensive than the national average, with Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon, Minnesota, and Oklahoma being the top five in order in that regard. It's also worth noting this study was taken specifically at Target stores, not other grocery store chains.

While it appears to be largely the case that organic groceries are indeed more expensive than non-organic options, that doesn't have to stop you from eating healthy. In fact, there is a very simple solution to bringing you a healthier diet that can be implemented pretty easily. The first step is to go grocery shopping at notoriously cheaper stores like Trader Joe's or Aldi.

The next step is going to be downloading an app called Yuka on your phone. Once you download the app, you can open it up and scan the barcode on different products. Once you do this, the app will give it a score from 0-100 based on how healthy or unhealthy the food is. A general rule of thumb with Yuka is that anything that scores over 50 is generally pretty safe to eat. Once a product is scanned, Yuka will also give you a detailed list of reasons why a product is healthy or unhealthy based on a number of factors. These include things such as whether or not there are harmful chemicals in the product, if it is high or low in saturated fats, sodium, if it is a good source of protein and nutrients, and much more.