Lee County is generally considered to be more affordable for residents than the Naples area, at least for housing. But, does that same logic apply to grocery prices?
The Naples Daily News compared prices for popular grocery items at seven different stores in Naples and Fort Myers/Cape Coral on July 20 and 21 to see if there was a difference.
Our shopping basket included these items: toilet paper, Roma tomatoes, bananas, milk, eggs, peanut butter, penne pasta, shredded cheese, chicken breast, ground beef, wheat bread and granny smith apples.
We noted prices at Target, ALDI, Walmart, Whole Foods, Publix and Trader Joe’s locations in both Lee and Collier County, along with Seed to Table in Naples and Farmer Joe’s in Cape Coral.
In both counties, ALDI had the lowest overall shopping basket price, with Walmart close behind.
The overall prices for some stores differed slightly by region.
For most, the difference was the matter of a few cents, but for ALDI the difference was several dollars: $3.12 to be exact.
You might think Lee County would be slightly cheaper, but the opposite is actually true for the majority of the stores the Naples Daily News and The News-Press visited. That is, except for Target and Whole Foods which do fit that stereotype.
Here are our shopping basket totals for each store in each region.
Publix: $44.36 in Lee and $44.05 in Collier.
Walmart: $34.86 in Lee and $34.63 in Collier.
ALDI: $32.99 in Lee and $29.87 in Collier.
Whole Foods: $50.48 in Lee and $50.68 in Collier.
Trader Joe’s: $40.24 in Lee and $39.98 in Collier.
Target: $38.46 in Lee and $38.49 in Collier.
Is there a difference between prices in Collier and Lee counties?
The answer is not really. In most cases, the difference is negligible.
Are there price differences for specific items?
The overall shopping basket prices for both regions have negligible differences, but the prices for specific items have larger differences between regions.
We averaged the prices of each item at all the stores we visited, except Seed to Table in Naples and Farmer Joe’s in Cape Coral.
Ground Beef: $7.02/lb in Collier and $7/lb in Lee.
Chicken Breast: $3.99/lb in Collier and $4.68/lb in Lee.
Creamy Peanut Butter: $2.36 in Collier and $2.62 in Lee.
Wheat Bread: $1.80 in Collier and $2.41 in Lee.
Penne Pasta: $1.21 in Collier and $1.29 in Lee.
2% Milk: $4.08/gallon in Collier and $3.87/gallon in Lee.
Cheddar Shredded Cheese (8 oz. bag): $2.93 in Collier and $2.95 in Lee.
Grade A Large Eggs (dozen): $2.34 in Collier $2.37 in Lee.
Bananas: $0.64/lb in Collier and $0.76/lb in Lee.
Granny Smith Apples: $1.91/lb in Collier and $2.13/lb in Lee.
Roma Tomatoes: $1.91/lb in Collier and $1.96/lb in Lee.
Toilet Paper (12 count): $8.54 in Collier and $8.20 in Lee.
What are the takeaways?
All items were cheaper in Collier County than Lee County except for milk, toilet paper and ground beef.
The biggest price differences between counties were seen in wheat bread and chicken breast.
You can reach Naples Daily News reporter Alexa Ryan at Alexa.Ryan@naplesnews.com. Follow her on X @AlexaRyan_ or on Instagram @alexaryanreports.
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This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Are groceries cheaper in Fort Myers or Naples? See the comparison
Reporting by Alexa Ryan, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News / Naples Daily News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Alexa Ryan, Fort Myers News-Press & Naples Daily News | USA TODAY Network
