Scenario
Updated August 17, 2026 · Written by Tim · Calculator-driven, not editor-picked · Methodology v2026.09.1
A family spending $800 a month at the supermarket is doing roughly $9,600 a year on groceries. That sounds high until you realize it works out to about $200 a week — well within range for a household of three or four eating mostly at home.
The instinct is to grab the highest grocery rate — Blue Cash Preferred's 6% at the supermarket. But the highest rate is only useful inside its cap, and BCP's $6,000-a-year cap plus its 1x on everything else keeps it mid-pack at this spend. The cards that win reward more than one category, never run out of bonus rate, and don't hide a big fee behind credits you may never use.
Who this fits
Key insight
Blue Cash Preferred earns 6% at supermarkets — but only on the first $6,000 per year, then 1%. At $9,600/yr in groceries, $3,600 of your spend drops to 1%, and because BCP rewards almost nothing else, it finishes last of the top five here. Amex Gold earns the most raw points — 4x up to $25,000/yr on groceries AND dining — but we charge its full $325 fee (its Uber/dining/Resy/Dunkin' credits count only when you tell the calculator you use them), and that fee costs it the lead: ~$586/yr net, behind even the flat-2x Venture. The winner is Citi Strata Premier at ~$735/yr — 3x on groceries, dining, gas, and travel for a $95 fee — with Chase Aeroplan's 3x close behind. The lesson: on a real family wallet, breadth at a small fee beats both a capped headline rate and a big multiplier behind a big fee.
At this spend level, some cards stop earning their headline rate before year-end. The bar shows the share of the year you earn the bonus rate vs. the base rate.
Blue Cash Preferred
$6,000 cap on us supermarket bonus
$800/mo on us supermarket bonus fills the cap around month 7.5.
Ranked by net annual value — rewards minus the full annual fee, counting only credits that arrive automatically — for good-credit applicants.Run your own numbers in the calculator.
$735/yr
net rewards
3x on groceries — and on dining, gas, AND travel — for a $95 fee, with no cap to track. (The $100 hotel credit only applies to Citi Travel bookings, so we count the full fee.) Nets ~$735/yr — less per grocery dollar than Gold's 4x, but it rewards the whole wallet at a fraction of the fee, and that makes it the winner here.
$593/yr
net rewards
2x miles on everything at a $95 fee — no categories, no caps, no credits to track. Nets ~$593/yr here on pure breadth: less than the 3x grocery cards above — though a hair more than Gold's 4x once Gold's full fee is charged — and it never cares where you shop, warehouse clubs included.
$586/yr
net rewards
4x on US supermarkets up to $25,000/yr means every grocery dollar here earns the bonus rate — and it pays 4x on dining too. It out-earns everything on raw points, but we charge its full $325 fee, so it nets ~$586/yr. The $120 Uber, $120 dining-partner, $100 Resy, and $84 Dunkin' credits are up to $424/yr of upside on top — count them only if those merchants already fit your routine (sign in on the calculator and mark the ones you use).
$518/yr
net rewards
The obvious 6%-grocery pick — and the cautionary tale. 6% on the first $6,000/yr, then 1%; with almost no rewards outside groceries, it nets ~$518/yr on this $9,600 profile — last of the top five, behind four cards whose grocery rate never tops 4x. The cap chart below shows exactly when its bonus rate runs out.
$514/yr
net rewards
Earns $514/year on this profile with no annual fee. Plus a $200 welcome offer in the first year if your spend meets its requirement — Current offer shown; issuer determines eligibility.
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Want the whole field, not just this household? See every grocery card ranked by the same math →
This ranking is fixed against the spending profile above. Drop your own monthly numbers into the calculator and we'll re-rank against your actual spend — same algorithm, different inputs.
Run my own numbersCard data verified against issuer terms. Rates and fees may change — verify on the issuer's site before applying. Rewards values use the point valuations published on our methodology page.
