INEGI Reports Monthly Drop in Food Basket Costs; Cancún Falls Under Urban Thresholds
The agency updated its Income Poverty Lines for June 2026: costs fell from May but remain higher than a year earlier.
The monthly cost of Mexico's basic food basket fell in June compared with May, both in urban and rural areas, according to the Poverty Lines bulletin published July 13 by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI). The update also applies to Quintana Roo, where larger localities such as Cancún are measured under urban parameters.
INEGI tracks two monthly per-person benchmarks. The first, the Extreme Income Poverty Line (LPEI), reflects the cost of the food basket alone: in June it stood at 2,553.37 pesos in urban areas and 1,907.63 pesos in rural areas, down 1.7 percent and 2.7 percent from May, respectively. The second, the Income Poverty Line (LPI), adds non-food goods and services — clothing, transportation, health care, education and others — to the food basket: it reached 4,888.22 pesos in urban areas and 3,503.97 pesos in rural areas, down 0.8 percent and 1.4 percent month over month.
Despite the monthly decline, both benchmarks remain above their June 2025 levels: the LPEI rose 4.6 percent year over year in urban areas and 3.1 percent in rural areas, while the LPI grew 3.9 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. INEGI attributes the monthly drop mainly to lower prices for tomatoes, chili peppers and eggs in both settings. The annual increase, by contrast, is driven largely by higher prices for potatoes (up 66.7 percent) and tomatoes (up 19.4 percent), along with food consumed outside the home.
What this means for a household in Cancún
Benito Juárez, the municipality that includes Cancún, is classified as an urban locality for this indicator, so its households fall under the urban thresholds: 2,553.37 pesos per person a month just to cover food, and 4,888.22 pesos per person if non-food goods and services are included. To estimate a full household's costs, these amounts should be multiplied by the number of family members. The figures are an official statistical benchmark — not a spending recommendation — that INEGI uses as an input for measuring multidimensional poverty in Mexico.
Where to check the figures and get help
Poverty Lines are updated monthly on INEGI's social development portal (inegi.org.mx/desarrollosocial/lp), which also details the methodology based on the National Consumer Price Index. Cancún families struggling to cover the food basket can request guidance on local support programs from the Benito Juárez Municipal DIF (family welfare office), or check federal welfare programs available at gob.mx/bienestar.
Since July 2025, INEGI has taken over monthly production of this indicator from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval); the calculation methodology remains unchanged.
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