Cost of Food at Home for a Week in Alaska

June 1999

23 Communities Surveyed

Up to three stores in each of 23 communities were surveyed during June of 1999 for the cost of a specific set of food and non-food items. The 104 food items selected were taken, with some modification, from the USDA Low-cost Food Plan which is itself based on a nationwide survey of eating habits of Americans, conducted in 1977-78. In addition, the costs of such items as water, propane and electricity were collected. All costs were adjusted to reflect local sales tax where applicable. Since Wasilla and Palmer were combined in this census, their differing sales taxes were averaged when calculating food costs.

The estimated prices of unavailable food items in various communities were calculated as the expected cost as judged from the prices of all available items relative to the price of those items in Anchorage. The percent of foods unavailable in each community are shown in the survey.

Weekly food consumption rates for a family of 4, children 6 - 11 years, form the basis of the expressed food costs. All other costs are ratios of that cost as calculated from the USDA Cost of Food at Home survey issued June, 1999. The cost for this family of 4 can be calculated from the table by summing the individual members. For smaller families such a sum would be too low and should be adjusted up by 20%, 10% or 5% for families of1, 2 or 3 persons respectively. Similarly, the sum for larger families would be too high and downward adjustments of 5% and 10% are suggested for 6 and 7 or more member families. These adjustments reflect that some economies may be realized when preparing foods for larger families.

Rows 18 through 22 represent historical food costs. The Anchorage column is a comparison of present to previous Anchorage costs. Similarly the U.S.Average column represents changes in U.S. average prices. A one (1) appearing in the Anchorage column indicates that the current Anchorage costis 1% higher now than at that date. Therefore, rising food costs are indicated by positive values. The remaining columns are each community's cost relative to Anchorage at that date. For instance, a cell containing aone (1) indicates a community that was experiencing a food cost 1% higher than Anchorage at that date. Note that the dollar value of the U.S. Average is not included in this survey since the methodology is not equivalent.

To see the results of Alaska Cooperative Extension's Food Cost Survey on the worldwide web, point your browser to http://extension.uaf.edu/ace/fcs/fcs.html.

Figure 1 groups communities by food cost and is a useful tool when speculating about the pressures that influence the cost of food throughout Alaska.

The question sometimes arises where specific nutrients can be found in Alaskan's diet. This issue of the Food Cost Survey addresses vitamin D. Vitamin D is a family of related fat soluble compounds that function in calcium and phosphorus nutrition. Vitamin D is unique among vitamins in that it may not be required in the diet under some circumstances. The precursors of vitamin D are synthesized in the liver and skin, the precursors appearing in the skin may be modified by sunlight (certain ultraviolet colors of sunlight) to become physiologically useful.

In Alaska it is questionable that we have enough skin exposure to sunlight to produce adequate quantities of vitamin D even during the non-winter months. As a rule, at 40 degrees north or south of the equator (Seattle is 47 degrees north) sunlight is no longer sufficient as a sole mechanism for getting vitamin D for three to four months a year. In the far north (Barrow is 71 degrees north) sunlight may be inadequate for vitamin D synthesis in exposed skin six months of the year.

Historically what are the dietary sources of vitamin D? There are very few sources of vitamin D in nature but some examples include the flesh of fatty fish, fats and liver of aquatic marine mammals and eggs from chickens fed vitamin D fortified diets. A chronic shortage of vitamin D at any age can lead to serious bone problems. For this reason milk been selected for vitamin D fortification. However, vitamin D is fat soluble so the amount of vitamin D found in non-fat and low-fat milks can be uncertain. All commercial infant formulas are fortified with vitamin D.

	Anchorage	Bethel	Cordova	Craig/Klawok	Delta Jct
1 Sales Tax (%)	0	5	6	5	0
2 % of Food Unavailable	0	0	0	2	1
3 Family of 2 (20-50 years)	58.68	96.01	87.29	77.1	68.52
4 Family of 2 (51 & older)	56.39	92.26	83.89	74.1	65.85
5 Family of 4 children 1-5 years	84.71	138.59	126.01	111.3	98.92
6 Family of 4 children 6-11 years	99.93	163.49	148.65	131.3	116.69
7 Children 1-2 years	14.99	24.52	22.29	19.69	17.5
8 Children 3-5 years	16.41	26.84	24.4	21.56	19.16
9 Children 6-8 years	21.85	35.74	32.5	28.71	25.51
10 Children 9-11 years	24.77	40.52	36.84	32.54	28.92
11 Females 12-19 years	24.06	39.36	35.78	31.61	28.09
12 Females 20-50 years	24.84	40.65	36.96	32.64	29.01
13 Females 51 years and over	24.13	39.49	35.9	31.71	28.18
14 Males 12-14 years	27.92	45.68	41.53	36.69	32.6
15 Males 15-19 years	28.71	46.97	42.71	37.72	33.53
16 Males 20-50 years	28.47	46.58	42.35	37.41	33.25
17 Males 51 years & older	27.13	44.39	40.36	35.65	31.68
% Change From:
18 Anchorage June 1999	0	64	49	31	17
19 Anchorage March 1999	3	59	41	20	9
20 Anchorage June 1998	-3	60	46	11	74
21 Anchorage June 1997	-7	53	47	15	74
22 Anchorage June 1996	-6	57	38	16	68
23 Electricity 1000 kwh	96.42	240.78	213.28	120.75	88.81
24 Electricity paid by State	42.63	43.19	42	41.72	43.33
25 Heating oil 55 gal	55.27	91.25	88	70.95	107.25
26 Gas 55 gal unleaded'	62.83	106.1	91.3	96.25	73.1
27 Lumber 2x4x8'	2.55	4.78	5.01	4.08	3.68
	Dillingham	Fairbanks	Galena	Copper River	Haines
1 Sales Tax (%)	5	0	3	0	5.5
2 % of Food Unavailable	2	0	4	0	4
3 Family of 2 (20-50 years)	101.96	60.05	115.7	70.97	72.64
4 Family of 2 (51 & older)	97.98	57.71	111.19	68.2	69.81
5 Family of 4 children 1-5 years	147.18	86.68	167.02	102.45	104.86
6 Family of 4 children 6-11 years	173.63	102.26	197.03	120.86	123.71
7 Children 1-2 years	26.04	15.33	29.55	18.12	18.55
8 Children 3-5 years	28.5	16.79	32.35	19.84	20.31
9 Children 6-8 years	37.96	22.36	43.08	26.42	27.05
10 Children 9-11 years	43.03	25.34	48.83	29.95	30.66
11 Females 12-19 years	41.8	24.62	47.43	29.09	29.78

12 Females 20-50 years	43.17	25.42	48.99	30.05	30.76
13 Females 51 years and over	41.93	24.7	47.59	29.19	29.88
14 Males 12-14 years	48.51	28.57	55.05	33.77	34.56
15 Males 15-19 years	49.88	29.38	56.61	34.72	35.54
16 Males 20-50 years	49.47	29.14	56.14	34.44	35.25
17 Males 51 years & older	47.14	27.76	53.5	32.81	33.59
% Change From:
18 Anchorage June 1999	74	2	97	21	24
19 Anchorage March 1999	72	2	86	16	19
20 Anchorage June 1998	1	82	22	21	5
21 Anchorage June 1997	7	43	28	11	13
22 Anchorage June 1996	3	37	31	4	17
23 Electricity 1000 kwh	149.49	88.1	257.5	161.5	178.4
24 Electricity paid by State	27.93	21.42
25 Heating oil 55 gal	92.4	59.13	108.77	58.41	65.45
26 Gas 55 gal unleaded'	98.95	67.6	138.88	84.1	84.65
27 Lumber 2x4x8'	6.14	4.36	3.49	3.29	2.88
	Homer	Juneau	Kenai	Ketchikan	Kodiak
1 Sales Tax (%)	5.5	5	5	5.5	6
2 % of Food Unavailable	12	0	1	0	2
3 Family of 2 (20-50 years)	86.6	62.12	65.9	61.61	75.15
4 Family of 2 (51 & older)	83.23	59.69	63.33	59.2	72.22
5 Family of 4 children 1-5 years	125	89.67	95.13	88.93	108.48
6 Family of 4 children 6-11 years	147.48	105.78	112.23	104.91	127.97
7 Children 1-2 years	22.12	15.86	16.83	15.73	19.19
8 Children 3-5 years	24.21	17.37	18.42	17.22	21.01
9 Children 6-8 years	32.24	23.13	24.54	22.94	27.98
10 Children 9-11 years	36.55	26.22	27.81	26	31.72
11 Females 12-19 years	35.5	25.46	27.02	25.26	30.81
12 Females 20-50 years	36.67	26.3	27.9	26.08	31.82
13 Females 51 years and over	35.62	25.55	27.1	25.34	30.91
14 Males 12-14 years	41.2	29.55	31.36	29.31	35.76
15 Males 15-19 years	42.37	30.39	32.24	30.14	36.77
16 Males 20-50 years	42.02	30.14	31.98	29.89	36.46
17 Males 51 years & older	40.04	28.72	30.47	28.48	34.75
% Change From:
18 Anchorage June 1999	48	6	12	5	28
19 Anchorage March 1999	6	8	2	36	10
20 Anchorage June 1998	10	9	33	12	75
21 Anchorage June 1997	11	32	19	15	-19
22 Anchorage June 1996	8	29	11	76	13
23 Electricity 1000 kwh	120.92	88.91	120.65	93.5	156.66

24 Electricity paid by State
25 Heating oil 55 gal	68.75	81.77	70.4	67.1	49.5
26 Gas 55 gal unleaded'	69.3	78.23	74.25	85.2	92.4
27 Lumber 2x4x8'	3.44	2.73	4.1	2.99	5.25
	Mat/Su	Nome	Petersburg	Portland	Seward
1 Sales Tax (%)	2.5	4	6	0	5
2 % of Food Unavailable	0	1	1	0	1
3 Family of 2 (20-50 years)	65.93	99.12	67.36	46.8	72.04
4 Family of 2 (51 & older)	63.36	95.26	64.74	44.97	69.23
5 Family of 4 children 1-5 years	95.17	143.08	97.24	67.56	103.99
6 Family of 4 children 6-11 years	112.28	168.8	114.72	79.7	122.68
7 Children 1-2 years	16.84	25.31	17.2	11.95	18.4
8 Children 3-5 years	18.43	27.71	18.83	13.08	20.14
9 Children 6-8 years	24.55	36.9	25.08	17.42	26.82
10 Children 9-11 years	27.83	41.83	28.43	19.75	30.4
11 Females 12-19 years	27.03	40.63	27.62	19.18	29.53
12 Females 20-50 years	27.91	41.97	28.52	19.81	30.5
13 Females 51 years and over	27.12	40.77	27.71	19.25	29.63
14 Males 12-14 years	31.37	47.16	32.05	22.27	34.28
15 Males 15-19 years	32.26	48.49	32.96	22.9	35.25
16 Males 20-50 years	31.99	48.09	32.69	22.71	34.95
17 Males 51 years & older	30.48	45.83	31.15	21.64	33.31
% Change From:
18 Anchorage June 1999	12	69	15	-20	23
19 Anchorage March 1999	54	18	-23	14	35
20 Anchorage June 1998	-22	16
21 Anchorage June 1997	22	28
22 Anchorage June 1996	20
23 Electricity 1000 kwh	100.24	186.63	101	61.5	132.28
24 Electricity paid by State
25 Heating oil 55 gal	87.72	73.15	71.5	63.8	75.17
26 Gas 55 gal unleaded'	100.1	92.9	74.75	73.65	82.45
27 Lumber 2x4x8'	3.34	2.45	3.1	2.86	3.84
	Sitka	Tok	Valdez
1 Sales Tax (%)	5	0	0
2 % of Food Unavailable	0	1	3
3 Family of 2 (20-50 years)	70.94	77.26	68.86
4 Family of 2 (51 & older)	68.18	74.25	66.18
5 Family of 4 children 1-5 years	102.41	111.53	99.4
6 Family of 4 children 6-11 years	120.81	131.58	117.27
7 Children 1-2 years	18.12	19.73	17.59

8 Children 3-5 years	19.83	21.6	19.25
9 Children 6-8 years	26.41	28.77	25.64
10 Children 9-11 years	29.94	32.61	29.06
11 Females 12-19 years	29.08	31.67	28.23
12 Females 20-50 years	30.04	32.71	29.15
13 Females 51 years and over	29.18	31.78	28.32
14 Males 12-14 years	33.75	36.76	32.76
15 Males 15-19 years	34.71	37.8	33.69
16 Males 20-50 years	34.42	37.49	33.41
17 Males 51 years & older	32.8	35.72	31.84
% Change From:
18 Anchorage June 1999	21	32	17
19 Anchorage March 1999
20 Anchorage June 1998
21 Anchorage June 1997
22 Anchorage June 1996
23 Electricity 1000 kwh	91.35	151.6	143.9
24 Electricity paid by State
25 Heating oil 55 gal	58.85	58.85
26 Gas 55 gal unleaded'	80.8	76.95
27 Lumber 2x4x8'	2.99