The goal: to find out how much food an individual living at the poverty line in the five largest U.S. cities – New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Phoenix – could purchase on a weekly or monthly basis and to highlight the regional differences in food costs for these cities.

The method: use the USDA’s “MyPyramid” program to get a sense of the foods people in their 20s and 30s should eat, and to have adults living in the five cities go shopping for the same items and purchase generic brands.

The shopping list: The easy solution would be to go super cheap, and take the rice and beans route or the college student ramen-only diet. However, our goal was to be a bit more sane, and include staples like rice and pasta, but also add some convenience (and healthy) options like peanut butter, bananas, and carrots. To make sure we were on the right track, our list provides grains, protein, fruit and vegetables, and hits each requirement outlined on the U.S. Department of Agriculture site.

The findings: In terms of price differentials, that cities differ in how much they charge for certain items was not a surprise. Creating a true 1:1 comparison among the cities was not possible because not all shoppers priced all of the items or provided sizes to help understand how much items cost.

What was surprising, however, was what the shopping lists revealed. In a crisis economy in which consumers are scaling back, choosing to buy fewer clothes or to completely eliminate vacation plans, food items are almost a protected category. Many people who shopped for us, even with the request to buy the house, generic, no-name or lower-tier brand, seemed unaware of what that meant and instead purchased organic, name-brand food.


Poverty by the numbers
Currently, more than 30 million Americans live under the poverty line.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, poverty is defined as living at or below the following income levels:

Individual: $10,830
Couple: $14,570
Family of three: $18,310
Family of four: $22,050