How much more does a basic grocery run cost in Aspen than down valley? We priced the same 10 everyday items at seven Roaring Fork Valley grocery stores on October 26, 2026, then added each town’s sales tax on groceries. Shoppers in Snowmass Village and Aspen pay the most, and the down-valley City Markets come in cheapest, led by El Jebel.
The results
| Store | Shelf price | Grocery tax | Total | Index |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clark’s Market, Snowmass Village | $42.21 | 7.1% | $45.21 | 105.3 |
| City Market, Aspen | $41.80 | 6.3% | $44.43 | 103.5 |
| Clark’s Market, Aspen | $41.21 | 6.3% | $43.81 | 102.1 |
| City Market, Glenwood Springs | $40.26 | 4.2% | $41.95 | 97.7 |
| Whole Foods, Basalt | $40.69 | 3.0% | $41.91 | 97.6 |
| City Market, Carbondale | $40.26 | 3.5% | $41.67 | 97.1 |
| City Market, El Jebel | $40.26 | 3.0% | $41.47 | 96.6 |
- The gap is nearly $4. The same basket costs $45.21 at Clark’s in Snowmass Village and $41.47 at City Market in El Jebel, roughly 9% more.
- Taxes do as much as shelf prices. City Market charges identical shelf prices in El Jebel, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs. Only the local grocery tax separates their totals.
- City Market Aspen charges more at the shelf, too. Eggs were $2.99 there versus $1.79 at the down-valley City Markets, and milk, bananas and cheese were a little higher.
- Whole Foods holds its own. Its 365 store brand had the valley’s lowest chicken ($5.99/lb) and rice, which offsets pricier milk, eggs and ground beef.
- Clark’s is competitive in Aspen. Its Food Club basket came in under City Market Aspen’s at the shelf, helped by cheaper ground beef, rice and butter.
Why your grocery tax depends on where you shop
Colorado doesn’t charge its 2.9% state sales tax on groceries, but towns and counties can. In Pitkin County, the county’s 3.6% applies to food, and Aspen and Snowmass Village add their own taxes on top. Down valley, Garfield and Eagle counties exempt groceries, while Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and Basalt tax them at the town level. Despite its El Jebel address, the midvalley City Market sits inside Basalt town limits, so it charges Basalt’s 3% grocery tax. And everywhere in the valley, candy, soda, hot deli food and household items are taxed at the full sales tax rate.
Aspen and Snowmass Village residents can win some of that back: Aspen offers an annual food sales tax refund and Snowmass Village a resident sales tax rebate for those who qualify. Neither is reflected in the prices above.
Item by item
| Item | City Market Aspen | City Market down valley* | Whole Foods Basalt | Clark’s Aspen | Clark’s Snowmass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole milk, 1 gal | $3.99 | $3.89 | $4.19 | $3.89 | $3.89 |
| Large eggs, 12 ct | $2.99 | $1.79 | $4.49 | $3.49 | $3.49 |
| White bread | $1.99 | $1.99 | $2.69 | $3.99 | $3.99 |
| Bananas, per lb | $0.69 | $0.55 | $0.69 | $0.79 | $0.79 |
| Ground beef 80/20, 1 lb | $7.29 | $7.29 | $7.99 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| Chicken breast, per lb | $8.99 | $8.99 | $5.99 | $9.99 | $9.99 |
| Russet potatoes, 5 lb | $2.79 | $2.79 | $3.99 | $2.79 | $2.79 |
| Cheddar block, 1 lb | $3.79 | $3.69 | $4.99 | $4.79 | $5.79 |
| Long-grain white rice, 2 lb | $5.49 | $5.49 | $1.68 | $2.79 | $2.79 |
| Salted butter, 1 lb | $3.79 | $3.79 | $3.99 | $3.69 | $3.69 |
Shopping organic? See our companion comparison, Organic Grocery Prices in Aspen & the Roaring Fork Valley, which prices an all-organic, meat-free basket at the same seven stores.
How we did it
- The basket: one each of a gallon of whole milk, a dozen large eggs, a loaf of white sandwich bread, a pound of bananas, a pound of 80/20 ground beef, a pound of boneless skinless chicken breast, a 5-lb bag of russet potatoes, a 1-lb cheddar block, 2 lb of long-grain white rice and a pound of salted butter.
- Like for like: we used each store’s basic house brand where possible (Kroger at City Market, 365 at Whole Foods, Food Club at Clark’s), conventional rather than organic. A few substitutions: Clark’s has no house-brand white bread, so we priced Sara Lee; Whole Foods sells conventional rice only in an 80-oz bag, so we prorated it to 2 lb; and Clark’s Snowmass listed extra-sharp rather than sharp cheddar in a 1-lb block.
- Prices: regular store-specific prices from each chain’s own website on October 26, 2026. Clark’s notes that its online prices can differ from the shelf.
- Taxes: every local tax layer at each store’s address, from the Colorado Department of Revenue’s 2026 rate table and town tax pages. Glenwood Springs and Snowmass Village collect their own taxes and don’t publish whether groceries are included; we treated both as taxing groceries.
What about Roxy’s? Roxy’s Market at the Aspen Airport Business Center doesn’t post prices online, so it isn’t in this round. Because it’s outside Aspen city limits, groceries there carry only Pitkin County’s 3.6% tax. We’ll add it after an in-store price check.
Sources: City Market, Whole Foods Market and Clark’s Market store websites; Colorado Department of Revenue, DR 1002 Colorado Sales/Use Tax Rates (2026); City of Aspen, Town of Snowmass Village and City of Glenwood Springs sales tax pages.
