Back to School: These Are the Most Affordable (And Expensive) Stores for School Supplies

As summer comes to an end, students and parents are prepping for the start of a new school year. Buying new school supplies is a major event for anyone with school-age children, and stores around the country heavily advertise their back-to-school deals as the fall approaches.

While back-to-school supplies and deals can be found at many different stores, some retailers offer better pricing and savings than others.

To help consumers save money on educational essentials this year, the FinanceBuzz team researched the costs for a variety of common school supplies at 10 major retailers to find the best and worst prices.

Key findings

• Walmart had the cheapest back-to-school supplies. Prices for 20 common school supplies came to just $67.37 (37% below average).
• Dollar General ($70.50) and Target ($83.25) were also among the cheapest. Walmart and these two retailers were the only stores with costs under $100.
• Michaels had the most expensive school supplies — our shopping list cost a whopping $185.28, nearly three times the price of the same items at Walmart.
• The average cost of buying our full list of back-to-school supplies was $106.73

The cost of back-to-school shopping

To learn which retailers offer the cheapest school supplies, we collected common back-to-school supply lists for elementary, middle, and high school students. We then collected prices online for each of the 20 items from different retailers.

We collected data from 10 of the most popular retailers in the U.S., including discount department stores such as Walmart and Target, grocery stores like Kroger and Meijer, and specialty stores such as Michaels, Staples, and Office Depot.

Data was also collected from Amazon to compare digital prices to what customers can find in-store.

All told, we found that prices at Walmart were the least expensive, with a total cost of just $67.37 for our 20-item list of school supplies. Dollar General was a close second, with a final bill of $70.50, while the arts and crafts chain Michaels carried the most expensive price tag at $185.28.

The least expensive retailers for back-to-school shopping

#1 - Walmart

Walmart offered the highest savings of any retail chain we analyzed. With a total cost under $70 and availability of every item on our list, the largest retail chain in America is also our No. 1 pick for back-to-school shopping.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $29.76
• Middle school: $44.68
• High school: $38.13
• All items*: $67.37

#2 - Dollar General

The cost for all 20 school supply items at Dollar General was less than $4 more than the cost at Walmart, making it one of the best options available this school year. However, shoppers may want to find their folders elsewhere, as DG’s price for that item was the highest of any store.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $36.75
• Middle school: $45.75
• High school: $41.25
• All items*: $70.50

#3 - Target

Target joins Walmart and Dollar General where the cost for our full supply list came in under $100. The popular store offers better prices than competitors on two different items: folders and pencils.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $47.23
• Middle school: $52.43
• High school: $43.59
• All items*: $83.25

#4 - Staples

Staples is a giant in the field of office supplies and a “staple” of back-to-school shopping for many customers around the country. It’s also the first retailer where the total cost for our supply list hit triple digits, though just barely.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $49.08
• Middle school: $71.33
• High school: $57.48
• All items*: $101.60

#5 - Meijer

Located mostly in the Midwest, Meijer started as a grocery chain but eventually evolved into a superstore concept, long before Walmart was on the scene. Customers can find every item on our list at the chain, although they may want to find backpacks and glue sticks elsewhere, as Meijer’s prices for those items were the highest of any store.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $41.04
• Middle school: $78.82
• High school: $66.73
• All items*: $109.25

#6 - Kroger

Like Meijer, Kroger started as a grocery store and became an “everything” store, although Kroger has many more stores and a larger footprint than Meijer. Kroger stores offer the best prices for construction paper and glue sticks but have the worst price when it comes to scientific calculators.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $43.23
• Middle school: $93.92
• High school: $65.83
• All items*: $114.01

#7 - Amazon

Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world and a quick and convenient way for millions of Americans to have items shipped directly to their homes at an affordable price.

However, shipping costs can exceed the value of certain products, leading Amazon to increase prices on those items to turn a profit. As a result, school items like crayons, construction paper, and rulers are more expensive to buy from Amazon than any other retailer.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $53.70
• Middle school: $93.43
• High school: $83.92
• All items*: $119.07

#8 - Office Depot

Office Depot, another leading name in the world of office supplies, merged with Office Max in 2013. It’s the last store we looked at where every item on our list was available for purchase.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $58.29
• Middle school: $85.47
• High school: $69.28
• All items*: $121.55

#9 - Walgreens

While known as a pharmacy, Walgreens also sells toys, groceries, and school supplies, among other items. We found most of the items on our supply list, but Walgreens didn’t have any lunch boxes or backpacks for sale according to its online inventory.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $59.73
• Middle school: $101.40
• High school: $75.62
• All items*: $134.61

#10 - Michaels

Michaels, one of the largest arts and crafts stores in the country, is the most expensive store regardless of age level and overall. The chain also doesn’t stock tissue boxes or combination locks, meaning shoppers will have to find those items elsewhere to complete their school shopping.

Costs for:

• Elementary school: $69.71
• Middle school: $152.92
• High school: $133.29
• All items*: $185.28

*Includes items that overlap between school levels, so the overall totals don’t not reflect the sum of each grade level.

Stores where back-to-school supplies are most and least expensive

While several stores were affordable, no single retailer had the best price for every item on our list. For back-to-school shoppers, we identified the stores with the best and worst prices for each item.

Walmart had the best deals on nearly half the list, eight items (including instances where it had the same price as another retailer), while Kroger and Dollar General had better prices than any other store on three items.

On the other hand, prices were highest for six supplies at Michaels, while Amazon and Office Depot were the most expensive places to buy four items each.

How to save this back-to-school season

• Earn credit card rewards at checkout. Use one of the best store credit cards to get rewards on your purchases and make the most of your shopping trip.
• Check your eligibility. Discover if your state offers a back-to-school tax holiday to combat inflation.

Methodology

We collected common items from elementary, middle, and high school supply lists and researched prices at each retailer online. All price data for individual items comes directly from the official website of each store.

Prices represent active sales and back-to-school pricing in effect when data was collected between July 10 and 12, 2024. In limited instances where a given retailer didn’t sell a certain type of item, we added the average cost for that item across the remaining stores to their total. The full list of items and quantities is as follows:

Elementary school

• Backpack - 1
• Lunch box - 1
• Notebooks - 5 wide-ruled single-subject notebooks
• Folders - 5
• Crayons - 24-count
• Glue sticks - 3-pack
• Construction paper - 96-sheet-count
• Markers - 10-count
• Safety scissors - 1 pair
• Pencil box - 1
• Tissue box - 1

Middle school

• Backpack - 1
• Pencil bag -1
• Notebooks - 2 college-ruled 3-subject notebooks
• Ruler - 1
• Pencils - 10 mechanical pencils
• Pens - 10 ballpoint pens
• Scientific calculator - 1
• Binders - 5 1-inch three-ring binders
• Loose-leaf paper - 5 reams, 100-count
• Lunch box - 1
• Folders - 5
• Dry-erase markers - 4-count assorted colors

High school

• Scientific calculator - 1
• Binders - 5 1-inch three-ring binders
• Loose-leaf paper - 5 reams, 100-count
• Backpack - 1
• Notebooks - 2 college-ruled 3-subject notebooks
• Pencils - 10 mechanical pencils
• Pens - 10 ballpoint pens
• Highlighters - 5-count assorted colors
• Combination lock - 1
• Folders - 5