I originally thought that the United States was just “expensive to eat out,” but then I realized that buying groceries at the supermarket and cooking at home is also very costly.

When I saw the potatoes priced at $1 each🥔 and thought it was outrageous, a white uncle next to me, looking at the price tag and complaining “It’s gone up again,” just went to the frozen section, grabbed several large bags of frozen pre-made dishes costing about $5 each, and left.
First, let’s talk about tips.
I really don’t understand the tipping logic in California. If someone brings me a bowl of noodles, do I have to pay a 25% tip? The bill also includes an additional mandatory “employee benefit fee” of 4-5%. The restaurant didn’t hire an extra waiter just because I ordered, and the same waiter serves a $50 steak and a $150 steak with the same motions, but proportionally, does my tip have to triple?
Many restaurants in San Francisco also add an “SF Mandate” surcharge, from the “San Francisco Healthcare Security Ordinance” effective in 2008, requiring companies with more than 20 employees to pay for their healthcare, and restaurants pass this compliance cost onto customers. So what I pay for is the restaurant staff’s health insurance. Why?
Payments are split into two transactions: the waiter first takes my card, charges the bill, then gives me a small receipt and a pen to write the tip amount, and then swipes again. The restaurant receipt directly pre-sets a “suggested tip” of 20%-25%, with most restaurants starting at 18%.
Who can tolerate this? Americans have even coined a term called tipflation. “Now, there are many more occasions where tips are expected than five years ago”; 63% of people hold negative views on tipping, and 41% directly say “the tipping culture has gotten out of control.” Tips have become a kind of hidden tax because merchants don’t want to appear to be raising prices; asking for tips is a way of raising prices without seeming to do so. My chauffeur also said that after the pandemic, tipping became “mandatory,” and since then, everything has gotten more expensive—dining out, groceries, all prices are rising.
Next, about prices.
The prices of food (for home consumption) in the U.S. have increased by about 29.4% from March 2020 to now. Overall prices have risen by 24-25%. The rate of increase has slowed, but prices have never gone down.
In a San Francisco supermarket, I saw a mediocre steak priced at $18, before tax. In 2026, U.S. beef prices will hit a record high, with ribeye at $21.99 per pound, filet at $24.99 per pound, and New York strip at $15.99 per pound in Trader Joe’s. Then add taxes: California’s statewide sales tax base rate is 7.25%, and San Francisco’s total is 8.625% (fresh produce is tax-exempt, but restaurants and pre-made foods are taxed fully).
Today, I went to a rural fruit and vegetable stand near Nevada, and it was slightly cheaper—about $5 for a small basket of blueberries, cherries, or peaches. The Central Valley in California is basically America’s fruit basket, with naturally affordable local prices, but it’s actually comparable to prices in Hong Kong supermarkets.
Now, about taxes. The main event, I almost laugh when I see the bill🫠
My hotel bill in Los Angeles (staying 3 nights):
Room rate $973.88. Additional charges include two “LA County Workforce Fee” charges of $24 and a “Daily Facility Fee” of $117.
There are five lines of tax: ❗️City Tax $19.48, Occupancy Tax $136.34, State Tax $1.90. And even these two additional fees are taxed again: “Tax On Workforce Fee” $3.90, “Tax On Facility Fee” $18.96.
Total: $1,295.46.
Los Angeles hotel occupancy tax is 14%, and they also charge a “fee tax” on that fee—that’s the essence of an American hotel bill🙂.
New York is even more intense (I used my InterContinental Platinum card points to book).
Room rate $647.90, plus a “Guest Amenity Fee” of $39.50. Then there are seven lines of tax—why seven? Because New York hotels stack “city occupancy tax + state and city sales tax at 8.875% + $1.50 per night hotel unit fee,” split among city, state, and special district authorities, and they tax both the room rate and the amenity fee separately.
Parking is even more exaggerated. The InterContinental hotel I stayed at in San Francisco charges $102.60 per night for valet parking, with a notice clearly stating “all visitors’ parking will be subject to an additional 25% municipal parking tax.” Yes, parking is taxed too. The Fisherman’s Wharf parking lot charges up to $20 per hour, and local friends told me they don’t dare drive to downtown for work… nightmare.
Finally, let’s talk about the “cutoff point.”
An average family in San Francisco takes home about $7,000 after taxes per month. With such prices, I find it quite uncomfortable. If you spend about $200 a day, you can’t save much each month, and not saving makes you very vulnerable. The Federal Reserve’s 2024 report shows that only 63% of American adults can fully cover a $400 emergency expense with cash; 13% can’t come up with that amount at all.
A quarter of households are living paycheck to paycheck.
Between bankruptcy and homelessness, it might only take one emergency room visit or job loss.
In Tenderloin, SoMa, Mission, and Civic Center areas of San Francisco, there are 8,323 homeless people. I saw them wrapped in blankets, rummaging through trash for old clothes others have worn.
Most can get by, but they can never save money—always on the edge, struggling repeatedly.
My friend said:
“America has a ton of taxes—federal, state, property, consumption. The middle class is the worst off. You don’t get any benefits, but you pay for all the benefits. In 2016 and 2017, Trump paid only $750 in federal income tax in a year, and we middle-class workers paid more than him! Damn! Welcome to the old capitalist country!”
(Trump reported huge losses, and for the first 15 years, he didn’t pay federal income tax for 10 of those years.)
It’s just too outrageous.