Ground beef takes 60% more of your working time than in 2006. Milk takes 31% less.

Prices are only half of the story. Divide each grocery price by the average hourly wage of US private-sector workers and you get the number that matters: minutes of work. Compare March 2006 with September 2026 for six staples.

1. Guess first

For each item, is the working time it costs today more than, about the same as (within 5%), or less than in March 2006?

2. Your receipt, any month

3. The twenty-year trace

Tap a line on the receipt to chart it. Drag or hover on the chart to read any month.

Sources

Prices: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Average Price Data, series APU0000708111 (eggs), APU0000709112 (milk), APU0000703112 (ground beef), APU000074714 (gasoline), APU0000FF1101 (butter), APU0000717311 (coffee). Wages: BLS Current Employment Statistics, average hourly earnings of all employees, total private (CES0500000003). All retrieved on 22 October 2026 through the FRED service of the St. Louis Fed, for example fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CES0500000003. Data run March 2006 (first month of the wage series) to September 2026. Minutes = price / hourly wage x 60, using gross pay before tax; averages are national and your own prices and wage will differ. The wage series is an average, so shifts in the mix of jobs move it too. This is an illustration of data, not financial advice.