Gas and Grocery Prices Are Hitting Texas Families Hard
- Better Neighbors Network
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
For Texas families, the cost of getting through a normal week has become a much heavier lift. Gas prices have nearly doubled since early 2026, and grocery bills have climbed right alongside them — driven by a separate set of forces, but landing in the same place. Here's what's behind both.
Grocery Prices Rise
Tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada have quietly driven up the cost of some of the most common grocery items. That matters because those two countries supply more than half of the fresh fruit Americans buy and 69% of the vegetables. The result has been a 3 to 10 percent price increase across the most affected categories. Ground beef alone is up 21.8% from where it was last year — a jump from $5.55 to $6.75 a pound.
Gas Prices Add to the Pinch
Getting to work, running errands, hauling kids around — none of that happens without gas. And gas has gotten significantly more expensive. When the U.S.-Israel war on Iran broke out, Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of the world's oil. Texas was paying $2.55 a gallon before that happened. Prices peaked at $4.52.
The numbers since then:
Regular gas is up 36.1% from a year ago. Diesel has risen 60.9% — felt most by farmers, truckers, and delivery drivers, but passed along to everyone eventually.
Over the course of 2026, the average household is projected to spend $857 more on gasoline than they did last year.
Taken together
Neither of these trends is showing signs of reversing quickly. Texans filling up and stocking up are doing both against a backdrop of prices that are meaningfully higher than they were just twelve months ago — and the gap is wide enough that most families are feeling it.
