Inside Everyday Family Life: Discount grocery store visits climb amid rising unemployment, inflation headwinds

Key Insights: 
➮ Discount grocery shopping surges across the country: Visits to discount grocery stores increased 3x faster than other grocery stores over the past year nationwide.

➮ Economic uncertainty fuels discount shopping in D.C.: The metro region has seen one of the largest increases in discount chain traffic, jumping five spots in state rankings. 

➮ Job market strain fuels discount grocery growth in middle-income metros. Portland, Atlanta, and Sacramento are among the most impacted regions seeking a spike in discount grocers.

Examining where families spend their time outside of home, work, and school offers a revealing snapshot of everyday American life. While big-box stores dominate as the most common shared destination, few places capture the rhythm of family life quite like the grocery store.

Across the country, grocery shopping remains one of the most universal family rituals—an errand that bridges regions, income levels, and generations. There are 26 unique grocery chains that top popularity rankings across the 50 states, and no single chain leads in more than six, underscoring how local these routines remain even within a shared national habit.

Grocery stores are also on the frontlines of the big economic and social forces shaping our times – from inflation, to labor market jitters, to shifting family norms. Life360 data sheds light on how Americans’ grocery shopping habits are evolving through these economic headwinds. 

Visits to discount grocery stores increased 3x faster than visits to other grocery stores over the past year.

Between September 2024 and September 2025, nationwide visits to discount grocery stores increased three times faster than visits to other grocery stores. More than one-in-eight (13.1%) grocery store visits nationwide are now to discount chains, compared to one-in-nine (11.6%) a year ago. 

The increase has been largest in states where discount chains already accounted for a relatively high share of total grocery store visits. Where discount chains are established and accessible, shoppers are visiting them more. Oregon had the second-highest share of grocery store visits to discount chains a year ago, and has seen the largest increase since then: +4.0 percentage points to 30.0% of all grocery store visits. Its neighbors – Idaho (+3.5 percentage points to 34.5%) and Washington (+3.4 percentage points to 23.6%) also saw large increases in discount grocery store traffic from September 2024 to September 2025.

The District of Columbia is an outlier: Despite having an average share of grocery store visits to discount chains a year ago, it has seen one of the largest increases in discount chain traffic. It was ranked 25th among states for the share of grocery store visits to a discount chain in September 2024, but has seen the sixth-largest increase over the past year. It is now ranked 20th for the share of grocery visits to a discount store, jumping five spots in the state rankings. It’s likely that this is related to the elevated degree of economic uncertainty prevailing in the Washington, D.C. metro area as it grapples with rapid cuts to the federal workforce.

Visits to discount grocery stores have increased more in areas where the unemployment rate has increased, especially in middle-income metros.

On average, states and metro areas that have seen larger increases in the unemployment rate over the past year have also seen larger increases in the share of grocery store visits to discount chains: 

The share of grocery store visits to a discount chain increased by 1.2 percentage points in the 21 states that saw their unemployment rate increase from September 2024 to September 2025. By comparison, the share of grocery store visits to a discount chain increased by 0.7 percentage points in 14 states that saw their unemployment rate decrease over the same period. (There was no change in the unemployment rate in the remaining eight states, which saw their share of grocery store visits to a discount chain increase by 1 percentage point.) Notably, WinCo Foods – a discount chain – overtook Trader Joe’s as the top grocery store in California between Q2 and Q3 2025.

On average, among the top 30 metro areas nationwide, middle-income metros—those with a median annual household income between $80,000 and $95,000 (2023 dollars), including places like Portland, Oregon; Atlanta, Georgia; Sacramento, California; and Riverside, California—have seen larger increases in visits to discount grocery chains. Discount grocery store visits have also increased in more affluent and less affluent metros, but the increase has been more muted. The upward trend has steepened since May 2025. 

Dads do about one-fifth of the grocery shopping among families with two parents. 

Nationwide, among Life360 family circles that include both a mom and a dad in Q2 2025, about 35.1% of grocery store visits were by a mom (with or without children), 21% of visits were by a dad (with or without children), 8.7% included both a mom and a dad, and 35.2% included neither parent. (We excluded family circles that include a “friend” or a “grandparent”.) 

However, dads appear to do a higher share of grocery shopping in a few – perhaps unexpected – places. The states where these “grocery dads” had the highest share of grocery visits were: Rhode Island (30.3%), North Dakota (29.6%), Wyoming (26.6%), West Virginia (26.3%), and New Jersey (25.0%). By contrast, “grocery dads” were least common in Vermont (11.3%), Maine (15.0%), Kansas (15.1%), South Dakota (16.5%) and New Hampshire (17.7%). 

Moms carry the highest burden of grocery shopping in Alaska (41.4%), Illinois (41.4%), Delaware (41.2%), Connecticut (41.2%), and Maine (40.2%). 

Looking across the top 30 metro areas, there are eight metros where dads do upward of one-quarter of grocery shopping: Washington, D.C. (29.6%); San Jose, CA (29.3%); Austin, TX (27.8%); New York, NY (27.0%); Detroit, MI (26.2%); Buffalo, NY (26.2%); Minneapolis, MN (25.3%); and Seattle, WA (25.0%). At the other end, dads appear to carry the least of the grocery shopping burden in Oklahoma City, OK (16.4%); Salt Lake City, UT (16.6%); St Louis, MO (17.2%); Milwaukee, WI (17.7%); Charlotte, NC (17.9%); and Nashville, TN (18.0%).

Methodology
Analysis of Life360 member grocery store visits, excluding big box stores and discount stores where food is not the primary merchandise sold. Visits include any stop greater than 20 minutes at one of the 7,100 national and regional places of business tracked by Life360. The most visited grocery stores reflect the average number of visits per month for Q3 2025. 

Discount grocery chains include: 99 Ranch Market, Aldi, Cash Saver, Cost Plus, Dollar General Market, Edwards Cash Saver, Food 4 Less, Grocery Outlet, King Cash Saver, Lidl, Pic-N-Sav Grocery Outlet, Price Rite, Save-A-Lot, Sharp Shopper, Smart & Final, United Grocery Outlet, and WinCo Foods.

State and metro unemployment rates are through August 2025, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Metro population rankings and median household incomes are based on 2024 U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey data.