This post is part of a series chronicling news coverage of rising prices in the United States. See more here.
Jacksonville's Action News Jax explores how grocery prices are driving more people to food distribution centers
Reporter: A recent poll “found 47% of families had to choose between buying nutritious food for the household and paying for gas, a car, or transportation”
Published
Video file
Citation
From a May 27, 2026, video uploaded to the YouTube channel of WJAX-TV Action News Jax
BEN BECKER (ACTION NEWS JAX ANCHOR): A new poll by No Kid Hungry Florida shows how rising food costs are impacting families. Action News Jax Madison Foglio is live outside this one location, and Madison, you spoke with a local food bank about what they are seeing.
MADISON FOGLIO (ACTION NEWS JAX REPORTER): Ben, I'm in front of Publix right now over in the town center, and I spoke with Susan King. She's the CEO and president of Feeding Northeast Florida, and she tells me that they, too, are seeing an increase in the number of people coming to their distribution centers recently. And I had a chance to catch up with one local shopper after she had a pretty hefty grocery bill later today.
PERSON 1: It's hard out there with the prices going up.
FOGLIO: This is Carol O'Neal's struggle after spending over $500 buying groceries.
PERSON 1: We've never paid that high. It's not good.
FOGLIO: O'Neal's sentiment reflects how many Floridians are feeling about high food costs, according to recent data. A new poll released by No Kid Hungry Florida in partnership with Aspect Strategic found that 82% of Floridians say the cost of food is rising faster than their income. It also found 47% of families had to choose between buying nutritious food for the household and paying for gas, a car, or transportation. 49% of Floridians with a child 18 or younger in their household report having to skip meals or having to eat less. And 70% of Floridians say their financial situation has suffered in the past year due to the cost of food.
PERSON 1: There are some things that we pass on that when we go buy because the price is just doubled or tripled.
SUSAN KING (FEEDING NORTHEAST FLORIDA FOOD BANK PRESIDENT & CEO): It's hitting everybody.
FOGLIO: Susan King is the president and CEO of Feeding Northeast Florida Food Bank. She says there are over 300,000 people facing food insecurity in Northeast Florida right now, and they've seen an increase in the number of families needing food in the last year.
KING: Since January through April of 2025 compared to '26. We've seen more than a 17% increase in the number of households we're serving. We've also seen a 16% increase in the number of pounds we've distributed just in those those four months.
FOGLIO: As for Carol, she plans to continue shopping strategically.
PERSON 1: You have to look around, shop the sales, and see what kind of good deals you can get.
FOGLIO: Now, King says she and her partners recently conducted their own survey, and what they found was really interesting. They found that 60% of their partnerships they have report seeing new people coming into their lines in the past few months, more recently than ever. And King also notes that with school now being out for the summer in some of our northeast Florida counties, they expect to see the number of families and people needing food only to increase in the next few weeks.