Does a Costco Card Pay Off in Puget Sound? A Checkbook Survey Gives Washingtonians the Math
Costco’s prices can feel unbeatable.
But around Washington’s Puget Sound, the gap with WinCo and Walmart was smaller than you’d think.
Here’s how big Costco’s price edge was over WinCo and Walmart, and whether it covers the $65 membership fee.
Who Priced What and When
Consumers’ Checkbook priced a 150-item basket across the Puget Sound area.
The basket included national-brand nonperishables, plus fresh produce, meat and dairy.
Its price survey ran from August 11 to 15, 2025.
It counted sale prices and assumed you’d use club cards at every store that offered them.
Digital-only discounts and coupons didn’t count.
Costco got a modified version of that survey, so the dates above describe Checkbook’s main price survey.
These are 2025 prices.
The Costco article carries a November 2025 update date.
Your receipt today may look different.
That comparison set Costco’s prices against WinCo’s and Walmart’s, among other stores.
Costco’s Gap on WinCo and Walmart
Costco’s prices ran only 6% lower than WinCo’s and 9% lower than Walmart’s.
If your cart costs $100 at WinCo’s prices, it would cost you about $94 at Costco, going by those figures.
At Walmart, it’s $91.
Checkbook says Costco has lost much of its price edge against Walmart and WinCo, which it calls Costco’s main local competitors.
KOMO News ran the column under a headline saying WinCo and Walmart offer similar savings without a membership.
Where Costco Sits in the Field
Costco’s two main rivals, WinCo and Walmart, are among the four stores Checkbook says offer the biggest savings.
Amazon Fresh and Grocery Outlet are the other two.
Each store’s prices were scored against the average prices for the same kinds of items at all the stores surveyed.
WinCo’s prices were about 24% lower than the average at the other stores surveyed.
Walmart’s were about 19% lower, the same as Amazon Fresh’s.
If your cart costs $100 at the average store surveyed, it would cost about $76 at WinCo and $81 at Walmart.
At Target, it’s about $86.
Safeway, QFC and Albertsons run $101 to $106.
Metropolitan Market runs about $129.
Costco’s 6% and 9% edges are measured against stores that already price below that average.
Costco’s prices also look low next to Target’s, Safeway’s and QFC’s.
If you’re a Walmart or WinCo regular, you’re already shopping at two of the cheapest stores on the list.
Costco’s Percentages
Costco’s 6% and 9% compare Costco with one rival at a time.
The 24% and 19% measure each store’s distance from the survey average, not from a rival.
If you add Costco’s 6% to WinCo’s 24%, you mix two different yardsticks.
You can’t read Costco’s place against that average off these two sets of percentages.
Larger-Size Caveat
Checkbook says the Costco it surveyed carried few if any basket items in the usual sizes.
So it priced the same brands in any size and converted Costco’s prices to unit prices, such as price per pound.
The items it priced at Costco were usually larger than the items it priced elsewhere, which makes the comparison uneven and gives Costco an advantage.
Counting the same brands in any size, Costco stocked 39% of the 150 basket items.
The other 61% weren’t there.
Items Costco didn’t stock can’t count toward the 6% and 9%.
The size advantage likely tilts those two figures toward Costco.
Food you throw out cuts into the savings too.
In rough terms, if you throw out 6% of what you buy at Costco, the 6% edge over WinCo is gone.
The 9% edge over Walmart disappears at about 9% waste.
Psst! How much do you know about Costco? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Costco and Grocery Smarts
Answer these questions on Costco, Sam’s Club and WinCo. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Costco’s food court hot dog and soda combo has held its price for decades. A 2022 CNBC report said that price had stayed put since which year?
An Average Seattle-Area Grocery Bill
The more groceries you buy, the more Costco's edge is worth.
In 2023-24, Seattle-area households spent $7,607 a year on food at home, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That's about $146 a week.
If your household spent that much at WinCo's prices, Costco's 6% edge would save about $456 a year.
At Walmart's prices, the 9% edge would save about $685.
That's about $38 a month at WinCo's prices and $57 at Walmart's.
The $7,607 covers all food at home, not only items Costco stocks, so your savings would likely run lower.
Break-Even on the $65 Fee
Costco's 6% edge over WinCo is worth about $60 on $1,000 of groceries.
At Walmart's prices, a 9% edge on that $1,000 is worth about $90.
Against that, Costco's fiscal 2026 annual report lists a $65 membership fee in the U.S.
That fee took effect September 1, 2024.
It includes a free household card.
Checkbook says the fee is hard to justify if you're happy with Walmart or WinCo's grocery offerings.
A 6% edge covers $65 once your yearly grocery bill at WinCo's prices reaches about $1,083.
That's roughly $90 a month.
Against Walmart's prices, a 9% edge gets there at about $722 a year, or roughly $60 a month.
Both figures assume the gaps hold across everything you buy.
Say you spend $75 a week at WinCo's prices, or $3,900 a year.
A 6% edge on that is worth about $234, or about $169 after the fee.
At Walmart's prices, a 9% edge on the same $3,900 comes to about $351, or $286 once the $65 is paid.
After the $65 fee, the $456 saving at WinCo's prices on a $7,607 bill shrinks to about $391.
At Walmart's prices, the $685 saving shrinks to about $620 after the same fee.
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