How Did H-E-B Score in a National Survey of 19 Grocery Chains? Texans Discover Who Came Out Ahead

Texans don’t need a survey to tell them where they like to shop.

But a national survey did ask, and the results put H-E-B next to chains from across the country.

Here’s how H-E-B fared, and who finished ahead.

Who Graded the Grocery Stores

H-E-B’s score comes from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), whose 2026 retail and shipping study is based on 31,293 completed surveys.

ACSI emailed randomly chosen customers from January through December 2025 and posted the results on January 27, 2026.

That makes the 2026 scores a look back at 2025 shopping.

Each score is a weighted average of three survey questions that measure different facets of satisfaction.

Higher scores mean happier customers.

The supermarket results cover 19 major companies, plus an All Others row for smaller stores.

If you shop at more than one chain, your other store may be on the list.

Podium

H-E-B scored 83, which put it third among the 19 companies.

Trader Joe’s led at 86, and Publix came next at 84.

ACSI’s release says Trader Joe’s maintained its hallmark customer experience, reinforcing its strong brand loyalty, even amid growth.

You can see the gap at a glance: H-E-B finished one point behind second place and three behind first.

No other chain reached 83.

Sam’s Club scored 82 in that table, one point shy of H-E-B.

H-E-B’s One-Point Gain

H-E-B rose from 82 to 83, a gain of 1%.

Supermarkets as a group slipped 1%, from 79 to 78, so H-E-B moved the opposite way.

That average is weighted by each company’s market share, which left H-E-B five points above it.

Only three of the 19 companies gained, and H-E-B was one of them.

The other two were Trader Joe’s and Save A Lot.

The release says an expanded loyalty program and mobile app seem to be helping Save A Lot, which rose from 75 to 78.

Save A Lot’s 4% gain was the largest of the three, and H-E-B’s 1% was the smallest.

Nine companies fell.

Seven held still.

Scores ran from Giant Eagle’s 73 to Trader Joe’s 86, a 13-point spread, and H-E-B’s 83 sat three points from the top.

H-E-B’s Gap to the Top Two

Publix held at 84, so H-E-B cut its gap to second place from two points to one.

Trader Joe’s rose from 84 to 86, which stretched its lead over H-E-B from two points to three.

Publix, unchanged at 84, now trails Trader Joe’s by two points.

The release credits that 2% advance with letting Trader Joe’s overtake Publix, which was unchanged at 84.

In raw points, Trader Joe’s gained two while H-E-B gained one.

Trader Joe’s 86 and Publix’s 84 were the only scores above H-E-B’s 83.

Look at the top three and you can see H-E-B closing in on Publix while Trader Joe’s pulls away.

One point short of second.

Chains Behind H-E-B

H-E-B finished ahead of 16 other companies.

Aldi and Whole Foods each scored 81, two points shy of H-E-B's 83.

Aldi's 81 was unchanged from a year earlier.

ShopRite followed at 79, a point above the supermarket average of 78.

Ahold Delhaize and Kroger sat right on that average, five points back.

Both were unchanged from a year earlier.

The smaller stores grouped as All Others scored 79, four points below H-E-B.

Save A Lot, at 78, sat five points back after its three-point gain.

BJ's Wholesale Club scored 77, six points back.

Hy-Vee and Albertsons Companies each lost 3% and stayed below the average, at 76 and 74.

That put Hy-Vee seven points behind H-E-B and Albertsons nine points behind.

Walmart's 75 was unchanged from a year earlier and sits eight points lower.

Whichever chain fills your other cart, the table below shows how far it sits from H-E-B.

Giant Eagle came last after slipping 1% to 73.

That left it ten points behind H-E-B.

A wide gap.

H-E-B Since 2024

According to ACSI's 2026 release, H-E-B continues to benefit from pricing, quality and assortment investments.

The release adds that independent research from 2025 on customers' value perceptions points to H-E-B's strong value proposition and execution.

Two years earlier, H-E-B was part of a three-way tie with Costco and Publix atop the supermarket results.

Costco and Publix each rose 4% in that release, and H-E-B rose 5%.

H-E-B had risen 5% to 85 in that release, while supermarkets as a group had risen 4% to 79.

Then came 2025.

Supermarkets as a group held steady at 79 that year.

H-E-B fell 4% to 82 in that year's release.

Today's 83 sits two points under the 85 it posted in 2024.

Publix, which posted that same 85 in 2024, sits at 84 now.

In the South, the 2026 release gives the regional lead to Sam's Club.