Here's Where To Find The Cheapest Groceries In IL, New Study Says

ILLINOIS — With the high cost of groceries, many people are looking for a deal. Keeping that in mind, NetCredit analyzed prices at over 2,000 grocery stores across the U.S.

After examining prices at 136 supermarket chains, NetCredit found that most of the affordable supermarket across 15 states is Target.

But that's not the case in Illinois. The cheapest groceries in the Prairie State can be found at Save A Lot, according to NetCredit. Save A Lot's offerings are 16.7 percent less than the state average. Food4Less, Hy-Vee and Target follow, all with at least 10 percent below-average prices.

Comparatively, Fresh Thyme Market and Target's fast delivery option are the least affordable, at 4.48 percent and 1.23 percent, respectively, above the state average, NetCredit found.

In Illinois, there are 33 Save A Lot locations scattered across the state.

To determine which grocery stores are most affordable, NetCredit created a list of items from major brands to compare at each store and built a list of 145 cities — including the top 100 most populous across the country. Researchers used Instacart.com to source prices by inputting an address in the most populous zip code per state and city and seeing which grocery stores delivered there.

"Comparing the average prices of the branded items to the average across all chains in each state/city allowed us to calculate the price premiums," the study states.