Grocery Prices Are Squeezing Virginians, and a 2026 Study Counted How Many
Higher grocery prices aren’t just a number on a receipt.
For many Virginians, they can change what makes it into the cart.
A 2026 study put numbers to that strain, with answers from thousands of people.
Here’s what those numbers show.
Who Ran the Study and How
Three groups asked for the 2026 Virginia Hunger Study.
They are the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, the Virginia Department of Social Services, and No Kid Hungry Virginia.
NORC at the University of Chicago, an independent research group, ran the survey.
Researchers at Virginia Tech helped.
Interviewers spoke with over 5,600 Virginians.
They used the screener for food insecurity from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
It was an 18-question food-security survey.
That’s a big group.
In the study’s terms, food insecurity means you can’t count on getting enough safe, nutritious food.
NORC ran the survey in May. It asked people about the previous 12 months.
Nobody guessed at the state’s numbers. People answered questions about their own kitchens and budgets.
A big group matters.
Researchers can compare regions and families, not just a few stories.
Here’s what it found.
We start with the statewide number. Then we look at grocery prices, regions and help.
The 42% Figure
The study’s headline number is 42%.
That’s how many Virginia households went through food insecurity from May 2025 to May 2026.
That’s about two in five.
Notice the dates.
The 42% covers 12 months.
It isn’t the share of homes short on food this week.
It counts how many households went through it. It doesn’t show how bad it got for any one family.
Families with children had it harder. In the same survey, 51% of them were food insecure.
So more than half of Virginia families with children went through it.
Two USDA Levels of Food Insecurity
The study sorted households with the USDA screener. It puts each one in a food security group.
Low food security means a household reports a worse diet. It has less variety or appeal. But people eat about as much as before.
Very low food security means a household reports several signs of eating less. Its eating habits are disrupted.
In the Virginia study, 26% of households landed at the very low level.
Groceries and the Utility Bill
Grocery prices come up right in the findings.
87% of food-insecure adults said higher-than-usual prices for groceries and food are causing major strain.
That’s almost nine in ten.
It isn’t theirs alone.
You may not be in that group.
Still, 42% of food-secure adults also named those higher prices as a major strain.
Utility costs came up too.
You pay a grocery bill and a utility bill from the same paycheck.
When one rises, you have less left for the other.
Cville Right Now reported that 84% blamed higher gas, water and other utility prices for economic strain. More than half of food-insecure respondents also named higher housing prices as a major cause of strain.
In Central Virginia, 88% of food-insecure households called higher grocery prices a major financial strain, per Axios.
For food-secure households there, it was 46%.
Psst! How much do you know about food assistance and grocery spending? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Food Budget IQ
Answer these questions on grocery spending and food assistance. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
According to USDA, what share of their disposable income did U.S. consumers spend on food at home, meaning groceries, in 2025?
The Regional Gap
The study's highest rate was in Southwest Virginia.
There, 55% of households experienced food insecurity between May 2025 and May 2026.
Northern Virginia had the lowest rate, at 32%. That's nearly one in three households, according to the Federation's release.
That's a 23-point gap inside one state. Same state, same survey, very different results.
Live in Southwest Virginia?
Then more than half of the households around you went through it during the study year.
Families with children had it worse there. In Southwest Virginia, their rate rises to 70%.
Statewide it's 51%.
That's seven in ten.
Rural areas had some of the highest rates in the state.
Central Virginia is the region Feed More serves. It landed in between at 45% of households, Axios reported.
That sits above the 42% statewide rate. Northern Virginia's 32% sits below it.
SNAP and Food Banks
SNAP is the federal benefit that helps low-income families stretch their grocery budgets.
If you've ever done quick math at the checkout counter, you know why that matters.
The study found that only 27% of food-insecure households in Virginia are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Do the math.
Close to three in four food-insecure households are outside the program.
The picture shifts with food providers. Their numbers are their own reports, not study findings.
Two Virginia food providers shared their counts with Cville Right Now.
The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank says it served around 178,700 people a month last year.
That's about 40% more than four years before.
Loaves and Fishes is a food pantry in the Charlottesville area. It says it will serve 12,000 people a month.
That number hasn't gone down in more than two years.
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