How we price the basket

We price a fixed basket of 12 everyday groceries every month using official average retail prices, never our own estimates.

Sources

• United States: BLS average price data for US city averages, collected for the Consumer Price Index.
• Canada: Statistics Canada table 18-10-0245-01, monthly average retail prices for selected products.
• Exchange rate: monthly average of European Central Bank reference rates.

Making the countries comparable

BLS prices most items per pound or per gallon; Statistics Canada prices most by package (for example "white bread, 675 grams"). We convert both to metric units and scale to the same basket quantity. Sizes and grades are close but not identical, so treat small gaps between countries with caution.

Why only two countries so far?

We only include countries whose statistics office publishes monthly average prices for these items. We're adding countries one at a time as we verify their data to the same standard.

Gaps

BLS did not publish average prices for October 2025. We leave missing months out rather than estimate them. Latest month on this site: September 2026.