Open data
The data behind the verdicts — free to use
Every week Lowtein reads store flyers across 172 North American cities and checks the advertised specials against official government price averages. These are the working datasets behind the price pages, Basket Tracker and Specials Scorecard — published as plain CSVs under CC BY 4.0. Use them in articles, research or your own tools; all we ask is a credit.
Updated 2026-07-12. New data lands with every site refresh (~every 2 days).
Current prices snapshot
One row per tracked staple: the official government average (BLS for the US, StatCan Table 18-10-0245 for Canada), this week's best advertised deal (price, retailer, item), and the median of each city's best price.
Weekly tracker series
The week-by-week series behind the Basket Tracker: for every staple and week since mid-May 2026, the national median of each city's best advertised price.
License & citation
Everything here is CC BY 4.0 — free for any use, including commercial, with attribution. Suggested credit: "Lowtein (lowtein.com), CC BY 4.0", linked if the medium allows. Government baseline figures are the property of their publishers (StatCan Table 18-10-0245; BLS average price series) and are quoted under their open-licence terms.
Honest limits
Deal prices are advertised specials, not shelf averages — they answer what a deal-follower can pay this week, not what the average shopper does pay. Coverage varies by city and week with flyer publication. Method, sources and known limitations: how we check.
US prices · Canada prices · Basket Tracker · Grocery Price Index · lowtein.com