Inflation continues to weigh on the American economy, with the Consumer Price Index rising 2.9% over the past 12 months as of September 2025. This persistent pressure on household budgets has forced families across the country to pay closer attention to their spending, with food representing one of their most significant expenses. As families grapple with these economic realities, one of the most fundamental questions they face is: where should their food dollars go? Should they invest in groceries for home cooking, or continue dining out at restaurants?
With that economic backdrop in mind, which cities around the country are seeing the biggest rise in home cooking?
To answer this question, we analyzed Bureau of Labor Statistics data on food expenditures and inflation from 2018 to 2023, examining how consumer spending patterns shifted across major metropolitan areas. Our analysis reveals fascinating regional trends and surprising leaders in the movement toward home cooking.
But before we dive into our detailed findings and methodology, let’s take a look at some of the key takeaways from our research. (Jump down to see our methodology)
Where Home Cooking is Rising Fastest – Key Takeaways
- Miami emerged as the clear leader, with inflation-adjusted grocery spending rising by more than double the local rate of inflation—all the more notable since the city already ranked high in home cooking at the beginning of our study period.
- Atlanta placed second overall in our key category; it actually ranked first in terms of raw dollar increases in food-at-home spending between 2018 and 2023, but higher inflation rates than Miami reduced the impact of that increased spending.
- The strongest regional trend? Midwest cities dominated the rankings, with 3 of the top 6 cities—St. Louis, Detroit, and Chicago—beating inflation by almost 50% or more.
The American Cities Where Home Cooking Is On The Rise
To conduct this analysis, we accessed Bureau of Labor Statistics data from Consumer Expenditure Surveys, and the Consumer Price Index to compile data on expenditures and inflation for 22 metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) around the country.
For context, an MSA is a geographic area consisting of a large urban core together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration—essentially what most people think of as a “city” and its surrounding area. We used MSAs because this is how government statistics are typically reported, though for readability, we refer to MSAs by their principal city throughout this article.
We also relied on the concept of “consumer units,” a statistical unit similar to “household” that the Bureau of Labor Statistics uses to track spending patterns. We selected the cities included in this study because these are the specific locations highlighted in the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey data, representing the major metropolitan areas where detailed spending data is available.
While we examined data across a number of categories, the key metric we used to rank MSAs was “inflation-adjusted grocery spending growth”—the amount that per capita grocery spending grew (or, in some cases, shrank) beyond the inflation rate for groceries in each city. These were the results.
Ranking the American Cities Where Home Cooking Is On The Rise
| Rank | City | FAH as a % of Total Food Expenditures, 2018-2019 | FAH as a % of Total Food Expenditures, 2022-2023 | % Change in FAH as a Share of Total Food Expenditures, 2018-2023 | Nominal Income Growth % per Capita, 2018-2023 | % Change in Per Capita FAH Expenditures, 2018-2023 | FAH Inflation, 2018-2023 | Inflation-Adjusted Grocery Spending Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Miami | 62.72% | 71.36% | 13.76% | 25.13% | 47.67% | 21.53% | 121.40% |
| 2 | Atlanta | 51.22% | 62.54% | 22.11% | 19.90% | 48.14% | 25.69% | 87.38% |
| 3 | Los Angeles | 49.95% | 52.14% | 4.38% | 48.34% | 42.53% | 24.56% | 73.16% |
| 4 | St. Louis | 56.95% | 59.17% | 3.89% | 7.59% | 43.02% | 26.53% | 62.20% |
| 5 | Detroit | 55.45% | 67.02% | 20.85% | 34.25% | 49.71% | 31.09% | 59.88% |
| 6 | Chicago | 57.00% | 60.91% | 6.85% | 33.46% | 36.18% | 25.39% | 42.49% |
| 7 | San Diego | 51.62% | 60.99% | 18.15% | 30.55% | 34.15% | 25.33% | 34.83% |
| 8 | Boston | 58.70% | 56.72% | -3.37% | 44.81% | 33.03% | 24.62% | 34.15% |
| 9 | Anchorage | 64.28% | 70.17% | 9.15% | 2.43% | 27.82% | 22.60% | 23.08% |
| 10 | San Francisco | 49.74% | 55.89% | 12.37% | 12.28% | 38.32% | 31.34% | 22.26% |
| 11 | Honolulu | 55.34% | 62.84% | 13.54% | 23.94% | 31.34% | 25.65% | 22.20% |
| 12 | Baltimore | 58.61% | 58.61% | 0.00% | -4.51% | 28.62% | 23.90% | 19.76% |
| 13 | Seattle | 53.86% | 57.25% | 6.29% | 14.92% | 31.75% | 27.02% | 17.50% |
| 14 | Philadelphia | 54.31% | 57.54% | 5.95% | 8.67% | 29.54% | 27.45% | 7.63% |
| 15 | Phoenix | 46.66% | 55.58% | 19.11% | 45.48% | 30.85% | 29.36% | 5.07% |
| 16 | New York | 54.37% | 60.39% | 11.07% | 14.32% | 22.47% | 23.24% | -3.29% |
| 17 | Denver | 56.25% | 55.01% | -2.21% | 26.83% | 18.49% | 21.93% | -15.66% |
| 18 | Dallas-Fort Worth | 53.42% | 55.41% | 3.73% | 16.46% | 19.87% | 27.24% | -27.05% |
| 19 | Washington D.C. | 51.06% | 53.33% | 4.44% | 10.84% | 9.38% | 20.24% | -53.65% |
| 20 | Minneapolis-St. Paul | 56.27% | 58.10% | 3.24% | 4.76% | 8.28% | 25.97% | -68.11% |
| 21 | Tampa | 52.05% | 59.47% | 14.26% | 55.78% | 9.43% | 31.32% | -69.90% |
| 22 | Houston | 50.05% | 53.22% | 6.34% | -11.28% | -1.14% | 29.55% | -103.87% |
Let’s delve into the data to see what it’s really telling us about America’s evolving relationship with home cooking.
Home Cooks Abound in Miami
Miami stands as the undisputed leader in home cooking growth, with residents spending almost 50% more on groceries in 2023 than they did in 2018. What makes this particularly striking is that Miami coupled this dramatic spending increase with one of the lowest rates of grocery inflation in our study—just 21.53%. This means people in Miami are genuinely buying significantly more food for home preparation, not just paying higher prices for the same amount.
Even more remarkable is that Miami was already a home-cooking powerhouse before the pandemic, with residents spending almost two-thirds of their food budget (62.72%) on groceries back in 2018—second only to Anchorage at 64.28%. By 2023, Miami had claimed the top spot, with residents dedicating a full 71.36% of their food budget to home cooking.
This sustained growth suggests Miami’s home-cooking culture isn’t just a pandemic-era holdover—it represents a fundamental shift toward a city with an increasingly strong culinary culture centered around the home kitchen. Furthermore, these findings were consistent with Escoffier’s previous analysis that placed Miami in last place out of all U.S. cities in terms of restaurant spending, cementing its place as a home-cooking capital of America.
Atlanta Spends More, Even with Inflation
Atlanta claimed second place and actually saw the largest raw dollar increase in food-at-home spending since 2018, with consumer units boosting their grocery spending by 22.11% over the five-year period. However, grocery inflation in Atlanta ran notably higher at 25.69% compared to Miami’s 21.53%, which dampened the city’s inflation-adjusted gains.
What makes Atlanta’s performance even more impressive is that the city achieved this grocery spending surge despite experiencing narrower income growth (19.90%) compared to Miami’s robust 25.13% income gains. This means that even facing higher inflation and more modest wage increases, Atlanta residents still prioritized home cooking over nearly every other major city in the nation.
Rising Incomes Don’t Translate to More Grocery Spending
Income levels showed no clear correlation with home cooking trends throughout our rankings. High earners and modest earners alike appeared across the spectrum, and Tampa—which placed second to last in our rankings—actually recorded the largest income increase of all cities we studied. However, Tampa also faced the highest inflation rate in our study, with food-at-home prices rising 31.32% while actual spending increased only 9.43% over the five-year period.
Adding to Tampa’s challenges, overall per capita food spending (including restaurant spending) actually decreased in nominal dollars, indicating that despite earning more money, residents are cutting back on food expenses across the board.
Headwinds in Houston Hold Back Food-at-Home Spending
Houston rounded out our analysis in last place, representing the only city in our study where residents actually spent fewer nominal dollars on groceries per capita in 2023 than they did in 2018. Even without adjusting for inflation, Houstonians were allocating fewer dollars to home cooking at the end of our study period than at the beginning.
This decline occurred alongside one of the highest grocery inflation rates in our study at 29.55% and a significant 11.28% decrease in nominal per capita income. With wages falling and grocery prices rising sharply, it’s perhaps no surprise that Houston residents have been forced to reduce their investment in home cooking.
Methodology and Notes
To obtain these results, we examined data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Expenditure Surveys (CES)1 and Consumer Price Index (CPI)2 for 22 major metropolitan statistical areas around the country. The analysis covered the period from 2018 to 2023, allowing us to capture both pre-pandemic baseline behavior and post-pandemic shifts in consumer spending patterns.
We focused specifically on “food at home” expenditures, which the BLS defines as purchases of food and beverages for consumption at home, including groceries, household supplies related to food preparation, and food purchased for home consumption regardless of where it was bought. This category excludes restaurant meals, takeout, and other food consumed away from home.
Our primary ranking metric was “inflation-adjusted grocery spending growth,” which we calculated by comparing the percentage change in food-at-home spending per capita from 2018 to 2023 against the corresponding Consumer Price Index increase for food at home in each MSA over the same period. This approach allows us to distinguish between cities where residents are genuinely purchasing more food for home cooking versus cities where spending increases simply reflect higher prices.
We also incorporated income data from the same Consumer Expenditure Surveys to provide context for spending changes, using per capita income calculations to ensure comparability across metropolitan areas with different household compositions.
The Consumer Price Index data came from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ regional CPI databases, which track price changes for specific categories of goods and services in major metropolitan areas. For food at home inflation, we used the “Food at home” index, which includes dairy products, fruits and vegetables, meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cereals, bakery products, and other food commodities purchased for home consumption.
All dollar figures in our analysis represent nominal spending unless otherwise noted, with percentage changes calculated using standard statistical methods. Income and spending data were converted to per capita figures by dividing total consumer unit spending by the average number of people per consumer unit in each metropolitan area.
This analysis reveals how economic pressures and regional differences can combine to shape American home cooking habits in an era of persistent inflation. While some cities have embraced the kitchen as an economic and cultural refuge, others continue to struggle with the rising costs of both groceries and dining out.
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Sources
(1) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys
(2) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index
