Dates of Publication

Surveys are conducted quarterly:

March, June, September, December

Cost of Food at Home for a Week in Alaska

September 1997

16 Communities Surveyed

Up to three stores in each of sixteen communities were surveyed during September 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. All costs have been adjusted to reflect local sales tax when 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 costs 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 and are shown on Table 1 and Figure 1. All other expressed costs are ratios of that cost as calculated from the USDA Cost of Food at Home survey issued September, 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 meals for larger families.

The historical prices are expressed percentages of the Anchorage value. The food costs in September 1997 for all Alaskan communities were estimated to be higher than in Anchorage. The Portland survey is conducted by Alaska Cooperative Extension and is comparable with the Alaska communities. The remaining rows are taken from previously published issues of the Food Cost Survey. Small quarterly price fluctuations are typical.

Although the USDA reports the weekly US average for the cost of food at home, these figures cannot be directly compared to the Alaska figures because of differences in methodologies. However, we have tabulated the percentage increase of the US average over previous weekly averages. These figures represent the apparent change in food costs in the US, as judged by the USDA methodology. Using this perspective, it is seen that the cost of food in Anchorage, according to the current survey, has increased 4% since June of 1997, whereas the US cost has increased 1%.

The first row (18) of the %Current/Historical columns is calculated as:

Any community current cost (CC$) as % of Anchorage (AC$) = CC% = 100*CC$/AC$

Members of the first column of the %Current/Historical figures are the Anchorage current cost (AC$) expressed as a percent of the historical Anchorage cost (AH$), or 'how much have costs changed since a certain date', and were calculated as:

Anchorage current cost as percent of historical = AC%H = 100*AC$/AH$.

The remaining members of the %Current/Historical columns are taken directly from the equivalent of row 18 of previously published surveys. By looking down one of these columns it is possible to track food costs in a community relative to Anchorage's food costs. Ratios (past over present) of historical percentages can be used to determine if a community's costs are changing at a similar rate to those in Anchorage.

The actual dollar amount that appeared in previous surveys can be calculated as:

Community historical dollar cost (CH$) = AC$ * CH% / AH%.

In addition to food costs, representative values are presented for fuels, utilities and building materials. It is important to note that the food costs presented here are based on a prescribed low cost diet plan. It is assumed that meals will be planned, that cooking facilities are available and few convenience foods are eaten. Each of the foods were priced for their lowest available cost regardless of packaging or brand. It is worth remembering that this survey is based on meeting a defined menu and does not include the many items such as paper products and detergents commonly purchased at food stores.

To see the results of Alaska Cooperative Extension's Food Cost Survey on the world wide web, point your browser to http://www.uaf.edu/coop-ext/fcs/fcs.html. Further information on the USDA survey is available from the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and on the world wide web http://www.usda.gov/fcs/cnpp.htm

Figure 1: Estimated food costs for September 1997

Submitted By:

Bret R. Luick, Ph.D

Foods & Nutrition Specialist/EFNEP Coordinator

 

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Anchorage Bethel Cordova Delta Dillingham Fairbanks Glennallen Haines Juneau Kenai- Soldotna Ketchikan Kodiak Matanuska-Susitna Naknek Sitka 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)	56.94	88.69	83.44	64.1
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	54.8	85.35	80.29	61.69
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	82.04	127.78	120.21	92.36
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	96.57	150.42	141.5	108.72
7	Children 1-2 years	14.45	22.51	21.18	16.27
8	Children 3-5 years	15.8	24.62	23.16	17.79
9	Children 6-8 years	20.97	32.66	30.72	23.6
10	Children 9-11 years	23.82	37.11	34.91	26.82
11	Females 12-19 years	23.19	36.12	33.98	26.11
12	Females 20-50 years	24.22	37.73	35.49	27.27
13	Females, 51 years and over	23.43	36.49	34.33	26.37
14	Males, 12-14 years	26.92	41.93	39.45	30.31
15	Males, 15-19 years	27.8	43.3	40.73	31.29
16	Males, 10-50 years	27.56	42.92	40.38	31.02
17	Males, 51 years & older	26.37	41.07	38.63	29.68
	% Current/Historical:
18	Anchorage September 1997	100	155.762659210935	146.525836181009	112.581547064306
19	Anchorage June 1997	104.017664799655	153	147	115
20	Anchorage September 1996	95.2085181898846	147	140	107
21	Anchorage September 1995	108.141097424412	158	157	122
22	Anchorage September 1994	105.749014454665	146	141	148
23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	95.89	239.86	191.88	91.13
24	Electricity, paid by State		83.6	52.43
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	53.19	72.77	93.28	59.24
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	71.45	93.73	94.6	83
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	2.99	5.2	4.59	3.28
28	Propane, 288 gal	397.15	1288.23	720	460.8
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	34.8	105	55.65	43.76
30	Sewer, monthly fee	21.92	18.9	29.26
31	Sewer, 1000 gal		23.06
32	Water, monthly fee	25.94	60.38	24.38
33	Water, 100 gal		21
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	47.86	79.28	53.64

Table 2

		Dillingham	Fairbanks	Glennallen	Haines
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	0	0	5.5
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	1	0	2	1
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	97.41	57.63	79.35	73.51
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	93.74	55.46	76.36	70.75
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	140.34	83.02	114.31	105.91
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	165.2	97.73	134.57	124.68
7	Children 1-2 years	24.73	14.63	20.14	18.66
8	Children 3-5 years	27.03	15.99	22.02	20.4
9	Children 6-8 years	35.87	21.22	29.21	27.07
10	Children 9-11 years	40.76	24.11	33.2	30.76
11	Females 12-19 years	39.67	23.47	32.31	29.94
12	Females 20-50 years	41.44	24.51	33.75	31.27
13	Females, 51 years and over	40.08	23.71	32.65	30.25
14	Males, 12-14 years	46.05	27.25	37.51	34.76
15	Males, 15-19 years	47.55	28.13	38.73	35.89
16	Males, 10-50 years	47.14	27.89	38.4	35.58
17	Males, 51 years & older	45.1	26.68	36.74	34.04
	% Current/Historical:
18	Anchorage September 1997	171	101	139	129
19	Anchorage June 1997	176	107	143	128
20	Anchorage September 1996	157	95	132
21	Anchorage September 1995	172	104	154
22	Anchorage September 1994	170	104	139
23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	199.88	80.51	189.01	180.3
24	Electricity, paid by State	52.08			35.56
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	61.6	58.79	63.75	73.11
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	95.65	77.49	80.06	94.05
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	6.14	4.19	3.29	3.2
28	Propane, 288 gal	997.92	489.31	403.2	577.3
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	86.37	35.4	42.42	51.21
30	Sewer, monthly fee	34.13	2.74	35	39.89
31	Sewer, 1000 gal		4.51
32	Water, monthly fee	27.68	3.7		19.89
33	Water, 100 gal		4.11	90
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	61.81	6.44		59.78

Table 3

		Juneau	Kenai- Soldotna	Ketchikan	Kodiak
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	5	5.5	6
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	0	0
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	58.31	61.84	63.03	73.07
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	56.11	59.51	60.66	70.32
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	84.01	89.09	90.81	105.27
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	98.89	104.87	106.89	123.92
7	Children 1-2 years	14.8	15.7	16	18.55
8	Children 3-5 years	16.18	17.16	17.49	20.28
9	Children 6-8 years	21.47	22.77	23.21	26.9
10	Children 9-11 years	24.4	25.87	26.37	30.57
11	Females 12-19 years	23.75	25.18	25.67	29.76
12	Females 20-50 years	24.8	26.3	26.81	31.08
13	Females, 51 years and over	23.99	25.44	25.93	30.06
14	Males, 12-14 years	27.57	29.24	29.8	34.55
15	Males, 15-19 years	28.46	30.19	30.77	35.67
16	Males, 10-50 years	28.22	29.93	30.5	35.36
17	Males, 51 years & older	27	28.63	29.18	33.83
	% Current/Historical:
18	Anchorage September 1997	102	109	111	128
19	Anchorage June 1997	111	113	111	132
20	Anchorage September 1996	96	104	103	124
21	Anchorage September 1995	111	115	112	138
22	Anchorage September 1994	114	116	105	136
23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	87.52	111	93.5	138
24	Electricity, paid by State
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	79.69		64.41	66.55
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	80.07	75.85	84.15	61.05
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	3.04	3.51	2.89	4.85
28	Propane, 288 gal	492.81		534.35	776.6
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	45.22	39.48	43.97	64.9
30	Sewer, monthly fee	34.13		26.7	32.2
31	Sewer, 1000 gal
32	Water, monthly fee	19.95		23	25.3
33	Water, 100 gal
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	57.02	41.29	49.7	57.5

Table 4

		Matanuska-Susitna	Naknek	Sitka	Portland	US Average (See Text)
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	2.5	0	5	0
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	3	0	0
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	62.38	102.05	65.67	43.49
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	60.03	98.21	63.19	41.86
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	89.87	147.02	94.61	62.66
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	105.79	173.07	111.37	73.76
7	Children 1-2 years	15.83	25.9	16.67	11.04
8	Children 3-5 years	17.31	28.32	18.23	12.07
9	Children 6-8 years	22.97	37.57	24.18	16.01
10	Children 9-11 years	26.1	42.7	27.48	18.2
11	Females 12-19 years	25.4	41.56	26.74	17.71
12	Females 20-50 years	26.53	43.41	27.93	18.5
13	Females, 51 years and over	25.66	41.99	27.02	17.89
14	Males, 12-14 years	29.49	48.25	31.05	20.56
15	Males, 15-19 years	30.45	49.81	32.06	21.23
16	Males, 10-50 years	30.19	49.39	31.78	21.05
17	Males, 51 years & older	28.88	47.25	30.41	20.14
	% Current/Historical:
18	Anchorage September 1997	110	179	115	76	100
19	Anchorage June 1997	119		122	81	101
20	Anchorage September 1996	106		111	73	102
21	Anchorage September 1995	115		123	87	106
22	Anchorage September 1994	117		123	83
23	Electricity, 1000 Kwh	105.86	182.44	87	56.64
24	Electricity, paid by State		49.7
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	74.25	75.35	72.04	63.2
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	72.55	106.5	89.6	82.45
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	3.01	4.87	3.85	2.7
28	Propane, 288 gal	434.88	806.4	517.1	357.09
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	41.48	90	49.86	33.46
30	Sewer, monthly fee	18.83		24
31	Sewer, 1000 gal				14.39
32	Water, monthly fee	17.12		12
33	Water, 100 gal				6.42
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	35.95		36