Economics has a term for what U.S. grocery prices have done in recent years: rockets and feathers. That’s been frustrating for Americans hit with the sharpest increase in grocery prices in 50 years. While food price inflation peaked in 2022, when prices jumped 11.4%, prices have not reversed course. That’s higher than the grocery inflation shoppers saw in 2024 and 2025 but close to the historical average of 2.6%. In some cases, grocery inflation is the result of long-term issues with no quick fix.