Alaska Food Cost Survey December 1997


Dates of Publication
Surveys are conducted quarterly:
March, June, September, December

Cost of Food at Home for a Week in Alaska
December 1997

14 Communities Surveyed

Up to three stores in each of fourteen communities were surveyed during December of 1997 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 December, 1997. 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 of 1, 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.

The historical food costs are expressed in a new manner in this report. The percent change in cost is expressed as the incremental change, which will be positive or negative if costs rise or fall, respectively. For instance, the current row 6 Anchorage cost is $100.05 compared to the September cost of $96.57. Costs in Anchorage increased 100.05 - 96.57 = $3.48, or 100*3.48/96.57 = 3.6%, which rounds to 4%. Expressed in previous reports the Anchorage change would have been 104%. Other than Anchorage, rows 18 through 22 repeat the percentage by which each community differed from Anchorage at that date.

Figure 1 is included in response to requests for the cost of fuel. It shows the cost of a barrel (55 gallons) of number 1 heating fuel in six Alaskan communities in December from 1979 to 1997. The upper half of the figure shows Anchorage (black), Bethel (gray) and Fairbanks (stippled), the lower half shows Juneau (black), Kodiak (gray) and Nome (stippled). The cost of fuel oil has been volatile over this period, the mean values from 1979 to 1997 are $54.36, $72.29, $59.23, $72.28, $64.68 and $85.11 for Anchorage, Bethel, Fairbanks, Juneau, Kodiak and Nome respectively. Anchorage and Fairbanks have had the lowest cost over the survey years but clearly factors other than community size play a role oil pricing.

Surveyed Communities

Anchorage Bethel Cordova Delta | Dillingham Fairbanks Haines Juneau |

Kenai Ketchikan Kodiak Matanuska | Naknek Portland US average |

		Anchorage	Bethel	Cordova	Delta
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	0	5	6	0
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	0	2

3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	59.04	87.94	81.53	66.48
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	56.75	84.54	78.38	63.91
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	85.05	126.69	117.46	95.77
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	100.05	149.04	138.18	112.67

7	Children 1-2 years	15	22.35	20.72	16.9
8	Children 3-5 years	16.39	24.42	22.64	18.46
9	Children 6-8 years	21.69	32.31	29.96	24.43
10	Children 9-11 years	24.71	36.81	34.12	27.82

11	Females 12-19 years	24.06	35.83	33.22	27.09
12	Females 20-50 years	25.12	37.41	34.68	28.28
13	Females, 51 years and over	24.3	36.2	33.56	27.36

14	Males, 12-14 years	27.89	41.54	38.51	31.4
15	Males, 15-19 years	28.7	42.76	39.64	32.32
16	Males, 10-50 years	28.54	42.51	39.41	32.14
17	Males, 51 years & older	27.32	40.69	37.73	30.76
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage December 1997	0	49	38	13
19	Anchorage September 1997	4	50	42	9
20	Anchorage December 1996	2	44	38	11
21	Anchorage December 1995	7	41	40	13
22	Anchorage December 1994	10	35	26	17

23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	89.64	245.95	191.88	90.83
24	Electricity, paid by State		61.74	57.26
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	56.65	74.5	90.37	59.24
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	69.25	93.73	96.8	83
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	3.09	5.2	4.58	3.28
28	Propane, 288 gal	402.92	1103.76	763.2	460.8
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	35.38	105	57.58	45.85
30	Sewer, monthly fee	21.91	18.9	29.26
31	Sewer, 1000 gal		23.06
32	Water, monthly fee	25.93	60.38	24.38
33	Water, 100 gal		21
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	47.84	79.28	53.64
Top
		Dillingham	Fairbanks	Haines	Juneau
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	0	5.5	5
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	0	0

3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	97.55	59.1	74.93	59.78
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	93.78	56.81	72.04	57.47
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	140.54	85.14	107.95	86.12
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	165.33	100.16	126.99	101.31


7	Children 1-2 years	24.79	15.02	19.04	15.19
8	Children 3-5 years	27.08	16.41	20.8	16.6
9	Children 6-8 years	35.84	21.71	27.53	21.96
10	Children 9-11 years	40.83	24.73	31.36	25.02

11	Females 12-19 years	39.75	24.08	30.54	24.36
12	Females 20-50 years	41.5	25.14	31.88	25.43
13	Females, 51 years and over	40.15	24.32	30.84	24.61

14	Males, 12-14 years	46.08	27.92	35.39	28.24
15	Males, 15-19 years	47.43	28.73	36.43	29.06
16	Males, 10-50 years	47.16	28.57	36.23	28.9
17	Males, 51 years & older	45.14	27.35	34.68	27.66
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage December 1997	65	0	28	1
19	Anchorage September 1997	65	-2	25	-1
20	Anchorage December 1996	64	2	14	1
21	Anchorage December 1995	57	-2		0
22	Anchorage December 1994	54	-10		4

23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	199.88	92.09	180.3	105.1
24	Electricity, paid by State	52.08		35.56
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	84.7	62.7	66.15	82.58
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	92.95	71.99	96.75	80.07
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	6.14	4.19	3.38	2.62
28	Propane, 288 gal	997.92	454.75	577.3	499.87
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	87.47	33.2	48.67	43.97
30	Sewer, monthly fee	34.13	3.15	36.89	34.13
31	Sewer, 1000 gal		4.64
32	Water, monthly fee	27.68	4.26	19.89	19.95
33	Water, 100 gal		4.73
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	61.81		56.78	57.02
Top
		Kenai-Soldotna	Ketchikan	Kodiak	Matanuska- Susitna
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	5.5	6	2.5
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	0	0

3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	60.53	61.99	71.81	64.01
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	58.19	59.59	69.03	61.53
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	87.21	89.29	103.45	92.21
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	102.59	105.04	121.7	108.48

7	Children 1-2 years	15.38	15.76	18.25	16.27
8	Children 3-5 years	16.81	17.21	19.94	17.77
9	Children 6-8 years	22.24	22.77	26.38	23.52
10	Children 9-11 years	25.33	25.94	30.05	26.79

11	Females 12-19 years	24.67	25.25	29.26	26.08
12	Females 20-50 years	25.75	26.37	30.55	27.23

13	Females, 51 years and over	24.92	25.51	29.56	26.34

14	Males, 12-14 years	28.59	29.28	33.92	30.23
15	Males, 15-19 years	29.43	30.14	34.91	31.12
16	Males, 10-50 years	29.26	29.97	34.71	30.94
17	Males, 51 years & older	28.01	28.68	33.23	29.62
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage December 1997	3	5	22	9
19	Anchorage September 1997	5	7	24	6
20	Anchorage December 1996	10	4	21	7
21	Anchorage December 1995	7	-2	19	6
22	Anchorage December 1994	1	-1	19	10

23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	114.37	93.5	149.73	109.19
24	Electricity, paid by State
25	Heating oil, 55 gal		64.41	55	59.4
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	79.64	85.8	78.1	69.25
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	3.55	2.84	4.85	2.94
28	Propane, 288 gal		534.35	792	460.8
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	36.68	43.97	64.9	41.48
30	Sewer, monthly fee		26.7	32.2	18.83
31	Sewer, 1000 gal
32	Water, monthly fee		23	25.3	17.12
33	Water, 100 gal
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	41	49.7	57.5	35.95
Top
		Naknek	Portland	US Average (See Text)
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	0	0
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	5	0

3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	94.52	43.95
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	90.87	42.25
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	136.17	63.31
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	160.19	74.48

7	Children 1-2 years	24.02	11.17
8	Children 3-5 years	26.24	12.2
9	Children 6-8 years	34.73	16.15
10	Children 9-11 years	39.56	18.39

11	Females 12-19 years	38.51	17.91
12	Females 20-50 years	40.21	18.69
13	Females, 51 years and over	38.91	18.09

14	Males, 12-14 years	44.65	20.76
15	Males, 15-19 years	45.96	21.37
16	Males, 10-50 years	45.69	21.24
17	Males, 51 years & older	43.74	20.33
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage December 1997	60	-26	0

19	Anchorage September 1997	73	-26	1
20	Anchorage December 1996			1
21	Anchorage December 1995
22	Anchorage December 1994

23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	182.44	56.62
24	Electricity, paid by State	54.67
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	77	66
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	104.87	74.75
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	5.17	2.65
28	Propane, 288 gal	806.4	357.09
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	90	33.46
30	Sewer, monthly fee
31	Sewer, 1000 gal		14.39
32	Water, monthly fee
33	Water, 100 gal		6.42
34	Sewer and Water, monthly

Top