CouponBirds recently conducted a survey of 3,500 adults in Virginia ages 18+ to find out how many have skipped meals entirely or cut down on their food portions due to unaffordable food prices. The study found that overall, 31% of adults in Virginia said they have eaten less food as a result of inflated, unaffordable food prices in 2022 (compared to a national average of 42%). This equates to 2,053,745 people across the Old Dominion.
When these figures were compared across states, West Virginia had the greatest percentage (75%) of respondents who said they have eaten less due to unaffordable food costs (1,074,435 people when compared against population data). Comparatively, this figure was lowest in South Dakota and Wyoming (22% of respondents respectively).
Inflation has peaked to a 40-year high, leading to an overall 12% surge in the cost of groceries in the food-at-home sector, as compared to May of last year. From May 2021 to May 2022, this includes a 32.2% increase in the price of eggs; a 14.2% increase in meat, poultry, and fish prices; and an 11.8% increase in the price of dairy products.
Alongside an escalating inflation rate and consumer price increases at the fastest pace since 1981, many people’s salaries are not keeping pace with rising costs of living. When it comes to emergency savings and ‘rainy day’ funds, many Virginians have found that ‘rainy day’ to be right now, instead of a future financial foresight, due to having to keep households fed, afloat, and secure in a time of economic uncertainty.
