Democratic cities rank among the cities where people spend the most on groceries

While Democrats like to tout their records on affordability, a new analysis shows that three Democratic-led Ohio cities rank among those where grocery costs consume the largest shares of household income.

Personal finance website WalletHub examined the “Cities Where People Spend the Most & Least on Groceries.” It examined which “U.S. cities offer the least affordable grocery bills relative to what residents earn.”

The study found that Cleveland, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown, ranked second, with groceries accounting for 3.93% of residents’ median monthly household income.

“This is mainly due to the fact that Cleveland has the second-lowest median household income in the country, at $40,801 per year,” WalletHub said in its analysis.

According to the analysis, several major grocery categories are more expensive in Cleveland than in most other cities. The city has the 17th-highest shortening prices, the 13th-highest soft drink prices, and the 15th-highest banana prices of any city nationwide.

Conversely, Cleveland has rather low prices for some grocery items, such as whole milk, coffee and peaches, WalletHub said.

“Reasonable grocery prices unfortunately aren’t able to make up for Cleveland’s low median incomes,” the site added.

The Forest City was one of three Buckeye State cities to crack the top 10.

Toledo, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, who has served in Congress since 1983, ranked fourth at 3.20%. Cincinnati, represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, ranked ninth at 3.05%. Republicans have confirmed their plans to heavily target Kaptur nd Landsman in a bid to flip their seats.

Detroit topped the list, with groceries accounting for 4.03% of residents’ median monthly household income.

“Groceries have been one of the most visible areas where cost increases have been observed since the COVID-19 pandemic,” Jeff Shockley, a professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management & Analytics at Virginia Commonwealth University’s VCU School of Business, said on the site. “That being said, grocery pricing is sticky.

“Once food prices increase, we rarely see declines in such prices,” Shockley added. “Groceries are also vulnerable to short-term shocks, such as the bird diseases and egg shortages we saw last year, which can cause price spikes in some cases.”