Gas and Grocery Prices in the Rio Grande Valley Are Up — Here's What's Behind It

Every family in McAllen, Edinburg, and across the Rio Grande Valley has felt it at the pump and at the register. Prices are up, and they've been up since February. The causes are specific, and they're not going away.

Gas is where it started. Texas retail prices climbed from $2.46 a gallon to nearly $4 at their peak — a direct consequence of the U.S.-Israel war with Iran, which sent crude surging past $100 a barrel by threatening the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow channel through which one in five barrels of global oil supply passes every day. Analysts say prices are unlikely to fall back to where they were, even as the conflict shifts. ITEP, which tracks household fuel costs since the war began, calculates that the average family has spent $545 more on gas since February — on track for $650 by end of summer. In the Valley, where distances are long and driving is unavoidable, that cost is real every week.

The grocery stores haven't offered any break. At H-E-B in McAllen, Walmart McAllen, Walmart Edinburg, and Sprouts, prices on staples have risen alongside gas. Ground beef is $6.90/lb, milk is $3.68/gallon, and eggs are $3.93/dozen. The supply chain that stocks those shelves runs on fuel — and when diesel is expensive, every delivery is more expensive, and some of that cost reaches the price tag.

Then there's the tariff impact, which hits the Valley with particular directness. The 25% tariff on imports from Mexico applies to the avocados, tomatoes, peppers, limes, and cucumbers in the produce aisles at every store here — food that crosses the Rio Grande close enough that you can see the bridge. The tariff gets paid at the crossing and works its way to the shelf. Federal Reserve researchers found that retailers pass the full cost through to consumers — all of it. For families who rely on fresh produce and shop these stores every week, that cost is built into every grocery run.

Higher gas, higher groceries, higher produce prices — all arriving at the same time, all with separate causes, all landing on the same monthly budget. That's what families across the Valley are managing right now.