Dates of Publication

Surveys are conducted quarterly:

March, June, September, December

 

Cost of Food at Home for a Week in Alaska

September 1998

 

21 Communities Surveyed

Up to three stores in each of 21 communities were surveyed during September of 1998 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 were adjusted to reflect local sales tax where applicable.

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 September, 1998. 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.

Figure 1. Food cost trends in Anchorage (open circles) and Fairbanks (closed circles) from 1967 to present.

Figure 1 shows that the cost of food in Anchorage and Fairbanks has not changed linearly over the last 30 years. For instance, a dramatic increase in food prices occurred in these communities in the early 1970's which was sustained for about 10 years, and after which food prices fell to a level consistent with the expected increase over the same period. These cost increases were contemporaneous with the construction activities of the Alaska oil pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez.

Figure 2. Food cost trends in Anchorage (open circles), Fairbanks (closed circles) and Portland (closed boxes) from 1988 to present.

Although among surveys deviations of 5 to 10% are not unexpected, there appeared to be another sustained decrease in food costs in Fairbanks and Anchorage in the early 1990's. Figures 2 and 4 highlight this phenomenon and indicate that Fairbanks food costs were generally but not always slightly higher. These communities may have enjoyed the benefits of increased competition as large grocery outlets opened doors, although it is noteworthy that food costs by our methodology were falling in Portland, OR well.

Figure 3. The relative change in the cost of food in Anchorage (open circles), Fairbanks (closed circles) and the national average (points).

Were falling food costs a national trend at that time? While there is not the space to fully explore food cost trends in this publication, Figure 3 shows relative food costs taken as the national average derived from USDA surveys compared to Anchorage, Fairbanks and Portland, OR derived from Alaska Cooperative Extension surveys. These figures are the percentage of September 1983, the first survey conducted under the present methodology. It is apparent that food costs have been rising by both methods of estimate and that the national average does not reflect phenomena detected in the local markets surveyed according to our protocol.

Figure 4. Consumer Price Index annual average percent change values and the surveyed food costs in dollars for Anchorage (open circles, upper line) and Portland, Oregon (closed boxes, lower line).

Another line of inquiry involves the US Bureau of Labor Statistic's Consumer Price Index (CPI). The CPI reports the annual percent change in the cost of living in 87 communities in the United States, including Portland and Anchorage. The CPI represents the rate of change in a conglomeration of weighted costs, part of which is food costs. The CPI does not report actual dollar costs, much as a vertical speed indicator in an airplane does not indicate altitude. Figure 4 shows the CPI in Anchorage and Portland from 1983 to 1997. The CPI was showing a similar downward trend in cost increases in both communities which is presumably related to simultaneously falling food costs in real dollars. Interestingly, the two communities show similar perturbations in food costs but in a more pronounced fashion in Anchorage. Notably, the early 1990's saw a drop in Anchorage food costs that were sustained for several consecutive surveys. At less than half the population, Anchorage might be expected to respond more quickly to market pressures.

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

Anchorage, Bethel, Cordova, Delta

Dillingham, Fairbanks, Galena, Glenallen,

Juneau, Kenai- Soldotna, Ketchikan, Kodiak

Kotzebue, Matanuska, Naknek, Nome

Seward, Sitka, Tok, Valdez, Portland

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		Anchorage	Bethel	Cordova	Delta
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	0	5	6	0
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	0	1
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	58.27	91.62	82.4	69.11
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	55.97	87.99	79.14	66.38
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	83.79	131.74	118.49	99.38
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	98.74	155.24	139.62	117.11
7	Children 1-2 years	14.71	23.12	20.8	17.44
8	Children 3-5 years	16.14	25.37	22.82	19.14
9	Children 6-8 years	21.46	33.75	30.35	25.46
10	Children 9-11 years	24.33	38.25	34.4	28.85
11	Females, 12-19 years	23.69	37.25	33.5	28.1
12	Females, 20-50 years	24.72	38.87	34.96	29.32
13	Females, 51 years and over	23.93	37.62	33.84	28.38
14	Males, 12-14 years	27.51	43.25	38.9	32.62
15	Males, 15-19 years	28.3	44.5	40.02	33.57
16	Males, 20-50 years	28.22	44.37	39.91	33.47
17	Males, 51 years & older	26.95	42.37	38.11	31.96
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage September 1998	0	56	41	18
19	Anchorage June 1998	1	60	46	11
20	Anchorage September 1997	2	56	47	13
21	Anchorage September 1996	-3	47	40	7
22	Anchorage September 1995	9	58	57	22
23	Electricity, 1000 kwh	100.83	236.06	212.43	99.91
24	Electricity, paid by State		55.37	45.57
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	56.32	73.86	87.45	56.93
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	64.02	89.51	88.55	73.1
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	2.49	4.15	4.75	3.85
28	Propane, 288 gal	405.79	1103.76	763.2	449.28
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	35.38	105	51.2	40.85
30	Sewer, monthly fee	4.1	18.9	30.36
31	Sewer, 1000 gal	17.7	21
32	Water, monthly fee	6.8	60.38	23
33	Water, 1000 gal	19	23.06
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	47.87	79.28

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		Dillingham	Fairbanks	Galena	Glennallen
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	0	3	0
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	4	1
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	99.08	58.04	107.14	69.54
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	95.16	55.75	102.9	66.79
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	142.47	83.46	154.06	99.99
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	167.88	98.35	181.54	117.83
7	Children 1-2 years	25.01	14.65	27.04	17.55
8	Children 3-5 years	27.44	16.08	29.67	19.26
9	Children 6-8 years	36.5	21.38	39.47	25.61
10	Children 9-11 years	41.36	24.23	44.73	29.03
11	Females, 12-19 years	40.28	23.6	43.56	28.27
12	Females, 20-50 years	42.04	24.63	45.46	29.5
13	Females, 51 years and over	40.69	23.84	44	28.56
14	Males, 12-14 years	46.77	27.4	50.57	32.83
15	Males, 15-19 years	48.12	28.19	52.04	33.77
16	Males, 20-50 years	47.99	28.11	51.89	33.68
17	Males, 51 years & older	45.82	26.84	49.55	32.16
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage September 1998	69	0	83	19
19	Anchorage June 1998	74	1	82	22
20	Anchorage September 1997	71	1		39
21	Anchorage September 1996	57	-5		32
22	Anchorage September 1995	72	4		54
23	Electricity, 1000 kwh	199.88	92.24	257.5	165.38
24	Electricity, paid by State	53.9		64.61
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	69.52	53.9	114.4	60.31
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	79.15	65.39	125.95	75.66
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	6.14	3.62		3.02
28	Propane, 288 gal	999.36	460.51		383.04
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	86.36	37.76	91.67	42.42
30	Sewer, monthly fee	34.13	3.15		38.5
31	Sewer, 1000 gal		5.2	46.35
32	Water, monthly fee	27.68	4.26
33	Water, 1000 gal		4.73	77.25	50
34	Sewer and Water, monthly

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		Juneau	Kenai-Soldotna	Ketchikan	Kodiak
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	5	5.5	6
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	1	0	1
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	60.84	61.45	62.68	76.75
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	58.43	59.02	60.2	73.71
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	87.48	88.37	90.13	110.35
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	103.08	104.13	106.21	130.04
7	Children 1-2 years	15.35	15.51	15.82	19.37
8	Children 3-5 years	16.85	17.02	17.36	21.25
9	Children 6-8 years	22.41	22.64	23.09	28.27
10	Children 9-11 years	25.4	25.65	26.17	32.04
11	Females, 12-19 years	24.73	24.98	25.48	31.2
12	Females, 20-50 years	25.81	26.07	26.59	32.56
13	Females, 51 years and over	24.98	25.24	25.74	31.51
14	Males, 12-14 years	28.72	29.01	29.59	36.23
15	Males, 15-19 years	29.55	29.85	30.44	37.27
16	Males, 20-50 years	29.46	29.76	30.36	37.17
17	Males, 51 years & older	28.14	28.42	28.99	35.49
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage September 1998	4	5	7	31
19	Anchorage June 1998	5	10	9	33
20	Anchorage September 1997	2	9	11	28
21	Anchorage September 1996	-4	4	3	24
22	Anchorage September 1995	11	15	12	38
23	Electricity, 1000 kwh	86.29	120.65	93.5	157.26
24	Electricity, paid by State
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	67.95		52.22	45.1
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	75.12	76.18	76.45	70.78
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	2.79	3.29	2.68	4.51
28	Propane, 288 gal	473.11		534.35	806.4
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	42.47	36.68	43.97	64.9
30	Sewer, monthly fee			29.4
31	Sewer, 1000 gal
32	Water, monthly fee			23
33	Water, 1000 gal
34	Sewer and Water, monthly	56.88	41.29	52.4	57.5

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		Kotzebue	Matanuska-Susitna	Naknek	Nome
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	6	2.5	0	4
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	3	0	5	0
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	94.94	62.88	102.91	102.85
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	91.19	60.4	98.83	98.78
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	136.52	90.42	147.97	147.89
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	160.87	106.55	174.36	174.27
7	Children 1-2 years	23.96	15.87	25.97	25.96
8	Children 3-5 years	26.29	17.42	28.5	28.48
9	Children 6-8 years	34.97	23.16	37.91	37.88
10	Children 9-11 years	39.64	26.25	42.96	42.94
11	Females, 12-19 years	38.6	25.57	41.84	41.81
12	Females, 20-50 years	40.28	26.68	43.66	43.64
13	Females, 51 years and over	38.99	25.82	42.26	42.23
14	Males, 12-14 years	44.82	29.68	48.58	48.55
15	Males, 15-19 years	46.11	30.54	49.98	49.95
16	Males, 20-50 years	45.98	30.46	49.84	49.81
17	Males, 51 years & older	43.91	29.08	47.59	47.57
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage September 1998	62	8	76	76
19	Anchorage June 1998		12	71	75
20	Anchorage September 1997		10	79
21	Anchorage September 1996		6		60
22	Anchorage September 1995		15		66
23	Electricity, 1000 kwh	222.27	106.85	191.94	193.8
24	Electricity, paid by State	54.53		51.59	31.5
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	101.75	46.38	70.95	91.3
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	148.5	63.75	98.82	110
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	5.29	2.85	4.7	5.14
28	Propane, 288 gal		397.15	892.8	904.55
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	96.81	31.86	90	84.89
30	Sewer, monthly fee	14.71	18.83		43
31	Sewer, 1000 gal
32	Water, monthly fee	58.79	19.1		36
33	Water, 1000 gal
34	Sewer and Water, monthly

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		Seward	Sitka	Tok	Valdez	Portland
1	Sales Tax (In percent)	5	5	0	0	0
2	Percent of Food Unavailable	0	0	10	2	0
3	Family of 2 (20-50 years)	78.75	67.86	85.38	70.5	44.97
4	Family of 2 (51 & older)	75.64	65.17	82	67.71	43.19
5	Family of 4, children 1-5 years	113.24	97.57	122.77	101.38	64.67
6	Family of 4, children 6-11 years	133.44	114.98	144.67	119.46	76.2
7	Children 1-2 years	19.88	17.13	21.55	17.79	11.35
8	Children 3-5 years	21.81	18.79	23.65	19.52	12.46
9	Children 6-8 years	29.01	25	31.45	25.97	16.57
10	Children 9-11 years	32.88	28.33	35.64	29.43	18.78
11	Females, 12-19 years	32.02	27.59	34.71	28.66	18.28
12	Females, 20-50 years	33.41	28.79	36.23	29.91	19.08
13	Females, 51 years and over	32.34	27.86	35.06	28.95	18.47
14	Males, 12-14 years	37.17	32.03	40.3	33.28	21.23
15	Males, 15-19 years	38.25	32.96	41.47	34.24	21.84
16	Males, 20-50 years	38.14	32.86	41.35	34.14	21.78
17	Males, 51 years & older	36.42	31.38	39.49	32.61	20.8
	% Change From:
18	Anchorage September 1998	35	16	46	21	-23
19	Anchorage June 1998		16			-22
20	Anchorage September 1997		15			-24
21	Anchorage September 1996		11	40	18	-27
22	Anchorage September 1995	42	23	38		-13
23	Electricity, 1000 kwh	128.41	91.35	200.8	147.78	63.24
24	Electricity, paid by State			51.1
25	Heating oil, 55 gal	93.5	64.15		65.18	66
26	Gas, 55 gal unleaded auto	73.7	82.45		76.4	60.45
27	Lumber, 2X4X8'	2.78	2.8		2.59	2.29
28	Propane, 288 gal		505.01		406.08	374.4
29	Propane, 100 lb refill	40.53	48.88		41.3	32.27
30	Sewer, monthly fee	34	25.2		7.75	3.99
31	Sewer, 1000 gal					11.33
32	Water, monthly fee	24.1	12.6		8.5	5.42
33	Water, 1000 gal					1.22
34	Sewer and Water, monthly

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