9 Cheapest Publix Stores in Florida, and Where Shoppers Pay the Most
A Publix cooler in Key West stocks the same carton of milk as a Publix on the mainland.
The Key West shopper pays more for it.
Publix has never published a store-by-store price list, and no outside tracker ranks its registers against each other.
But Florida’s cost-of-living researchers track something else: How far a grocery budget stretches, city by city, against the rest of the country.
So, these are the Florida towns where a Publix run goes the furthest based on that data, and the places where it costs the most.
1. Chipley
Publix has a store at 5763 Highway 77 in Chipley, a Washington County town whose grocery bill runs well under the national average.
Sperling’s BestPlaces prices Chipley’s groceries at an index of 95 against the national baseline of 100, about 5% below the U.S. average.
That works out to roughly $380 a month for one person and $1,235 for a family of four.
That adds up fast.
Chipley sits along U.S. 90 between Marianna and DeFuniak Springs, small enough that the Publix parking lot barely fills at lunch.
2. DeFuniak Springs
Publix runs a store in DeFuniak Springs, a Walton County town built around a nearly perfect circular lake.
DeFuniak Springs prices its groceries at a cost-of-living index of 93 against the national baseline of 100.
Seven points under the line adds up over a year of weekly trips.
Worth the drive.
DeFuniak Springs sits close enough to the Gulf that summer visitors pass through on their way to the beach, but the grocery math stays a Panhandle bargain either way.
What Florida’s Grocery Index Means for Publix Shoppers
Florida’s grocery index prices a fixed basket of food-at-home items at stores like Publix in each city, then compares that total against a 100-point national average.
A city scoring 93, like DeFuniak Springs, spends about 7% less filling that basket than the country as a whole.
The index can’t say which Publix register rings up lower.
That’s because Publix has never published store-level prices.
It also skips restaurant meals and weekly BOGO swings, since it only tracks the steady cost of stocking a kitchen.
3. Live Oak
Publix built Live Oak Crossing at 2215 Ohio Ave N in Live Oak, a Suwannee County seat known for its fiddling festival.
Live Oak’s grocery index sits at 95, five points under the national baseline.
The savings stay steady.
Not a huge difference on any single receipt.
Stretched across a year of shopping for a family, though, it’s the difference between a full cart and a cart with something left over.
4. Perry
Publix anchors Paradise Shoppes of Perry, the shopping center that serves this Taylor County town along U.S. 19.
Perry’s grocery index also lands at 95, tied with Live Oak for one of the lower marks on Florida’s Gulf side.
Perry sits inland from Keaton Beach and the Big Bend coastline, where forestry work still shapes the local economy more than tourism does.
The carts run cheaper here.
5. Lake City
Publix runs Lake City Commons at 255 NW Commons Loop, just off U.S. 90 in this Columbia County hub near the Georgia line.
Lake City’s grocery index checks in at 96, four points under the national average.
I-75 and I-10 cross practically in Lake City’s backyard.
Few drivers notice.
Many of them never realize the town around that exit ramp runs this far under Florida’s grocery average.
Psst! How much do you know about Publix and the business behind it? Take our quiz and see how many you can get right.
Quiz
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Answer these questions on Publix, its slogan, and how it’s run. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
What was Publix’s original slogan when George Jenkins opened his first store in 1930, before “Where Shopping Is a Pleasure”?
6. Panama City
Publix operates several stores across Panama City, the Bay County beach town that rebuilt much of its retail corridor after Hurricane Michael.
A study by personal-finance site GOBankingRates, cross-referencing Sperling's BestPlaces cost data with the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey, put Panama City's grocery index at 96.5 as of April 2024.
That penciled out to about $458.62 a month for one person's food-at-home spending.
Below average.
Even with tourist season crowding the aisles every summer, Panama City's grocery bill stays under the national line.
7. Milton
Publix runs Merganser Commons at 5854 Dogwood Dr in Milton, the Santa Rosa County seat along the Blackwater River.
Milton sits close enough to Pensacola that many residents commute in for work, but they drive home to a grocery bill the naval base doesn't cover.
The same GOBankingRates study scored Milton's grocery index at 96.6, with a monthly average of $459.09 for one person's food-at-home costs.
Close, but still under.
8. Quincy
Publix serves Quincy, the Gadsden County seat once nicknamed the wealthiest small town in America for all the Coca-Cola stock its residents held.
Quincy sits a short drive from Tallahassee, close enough that the price gap between the two cities surprises anyone who checks both receipts.
Quincy's grocery index runs to 97, just under the national mark.
Modest, but still savings.
9. Sebring
Publix operates three stores around Sebring, the Highlands County town built around the racetrack that hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring every March.
Sebring's grocery index sits at 99, the closest to the national line of any town on this list.
It's barely under average.
It still adds up, though.
Sebring's overall cost of living runs well below the national average even with that grocery index sitting close to par, mostly because housing costs so little there.
Where Florida Grocery Bills Run Highest
Publix operates in several Florida markets where the identical grocery run costs noticeably more than it does in Chipley or Perry.
Miami's grocery index runs to 109 against that same 100-point baseline, about 9% above the country as a whole, and Publix stores line practically every major corridor in the city.
Key West's grocery index rises past that.
Its grocery index sits at 114.5, roughly 14.5% above the national average, largely because supplies travel down the Overseas Highway before they ever reach a shelf.
Two Publix stores serve Key West anyway, one on North Roosevelt Boulevard and one at Key Plaza, and both draw from the same island supply chain that pushes prices up for every grocer down there, not just Publix.
Florida Skips Tax on the Groceries Themselves
Publix shoppers in every one of these towns get a break the receipt doesn't always make obvious.
Florida exempts staple groceries, bread, milk, produce, meat, canned goods, from its 6% sales tax under state law.
No tax line at all.
That's baked into every one of the grocery index numbers above.
The exemption has a limit, though: Food that's hot, ready to eat, or sold for eating on the spot loses it.
That's why a rotisserie chicken or a prepared Pub Sub rings up taxed while the cold cuts in the same cart don't.
Candy and soft drinks lose the exemption too, so a cart that mixes a rotisserie chicken with a bag of flour carries two different tax outcomes at checkout.
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