DoorDash has released its first quarterly State of Local Commerce update, drawing on millions of transactions across restaurants, grocery and everyday goods to offer a ground-level view of how prices are shifting across the U.S.
The headline finding for grocery retailers: the Breakfast Basics Index is down 22.3 percent year over year, driven largely by a sharp decrease in egg prices compared to the same period last year. Household goods prices are essentially flat, down 0.3 percent year over year, meaning consumers are not feeling additional squeeze on frequently purchased everyday items.
On the restaurant side, price increases are moderating. DoorDash’s Cheeseburger Index came in at 3.7 percent year over year, slightly below the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent food-away-from-home CPI of 3.9 percent. The broader Restaurant Price Index is up just 3.2 percent year over year, reflecting a gradual long-term deceleration.
“Our goal is to provide a simple, reliable way to track what’s happening in local economies,” said Jessica Lachs, chief analytics officer at DoorDash.
“This data reflects what people are actually buying day to day, which helps add context to broader economic trends. Over time, we hope these updates can serve as a useful reference point for understanding how conditions are changing across communities.”
The data underscores that national averages can obscure meaningful local variation. DoorDash identified the most affordable markets in several categories: Greensboro, North Carolina, had the lowest Breakfast Basics cost at $2.60; Lincoln, Nebraska, led on the Cheeseburger Index at $12.47; and Memphis, Tennessee, came in lowest on Everyday Essentials at $51.93.
The quarterly update builds on DoorDash’s annual State of Local Commerce report launched last year. The company plans to publish findings on a recurring basis to provide a data-driven perspective for policymakers, researchers and business leaders on how local commerce is evolving across communities.
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