A recent, hands-on price check found that bulk club shopping still delivers the biggest savings for many American households. Business Insider reporter Savannah Born compared unit prices for 32 common grocery items at Walmart and Costco and concluded that Costco was nearly 26% cheaper overall, a gap large enough to “shock” the shopper conducting the test.
Born’s comparison used unit pricing — cost per pound or ounce — to make items directly comparable. While Walmart beat Costco on a handful of staples — chicken was about $0.42 less per pound at Walmart, sugar and flour were significantly cheaper by weight, and a dozen eggs cost 15 cents less — Costco’s lower prices on many other items drove the sizable average advantage in Born’s sample.
The result echoes broader findings from a spring 2026 Consumer Reports survey, which also identified Costco as one of the cheapest major retailers. That study, which compared a representative cart of items rather than unit prices, found Costco’s average prices were roughly 21% lower than Walmart’s. Differences in methodology — unit pricing versus a cart comparison — help explain why the two figures (nearly 26% versus about 21%) are not identical, even though both point in the same direction.
The price check comes as Americans face higher grocery bills than before the pandemic and the prospect of further upward pressure on food costs. Analysts and retailers have warned that constrained fuel and fertilizer supplies amid the war in Iran could push commodity and transport costs higher, feeding through to supermarket prices. At the same time, rising gasoline prices make the calculus of driving farther for bargains more complicated.
That calculation matters because buying at a membership warehouse like Costco is not free: a standard membership currently costs $65 a year. To make that fee worth it, shoppers generally need to buy frequently enough from the warehouse to recoup the savings. Other membership perks — such as discounts on gas, tires and prescription eyeglasses at Costco — can factor into the value equation, but they do not help shoppers who live in areas with limited retail options. Roughly 19 million Americans live in food deserts, where accessing any supermarket can require lengthy travel; higher fuel costs and time spent driving can erase the savings found on price tags.
Born’s experiment underlines a practical point for consumers: unit-price comparisons can reveal value that shelf pricing alone obscures, and big-box and membership retailers can each be the better buy depending on the product. For shoppers deciding whether to pay for a warehouse membership, the decision hinges on buying patterns, local availability, travel costs and which staples they purchase most often.