What Is Unit Pricing?
When you're shopping, the same product often comes in different sizes — a small bag of chips, a medium bag, a giant bag — and each size costs a different total price. So how do you know which one is actually the best deal?
That's where unit pricing comes in. The unit price tells you how much you're paying for just one unit of the product — one ounce, one item, one roll, whatever makes sense for that product. Once you know the unit price, you can fairly compare packages of any size, even if their total prices look completely different.
Bigger Isn't Always the Better Deal
It's tempting to assume the biggest package is always the cheapest per unit — but that's not always true! Sometimes a smaller package is actually the better deal.
A 10 oz bag of crackers costs $2.50. That's $0.25 per ounce. A 20 oz bag of the same crackers costs $5.20. That's $0.26 per ounce.
Even though the big bag has twice as many crackers, you're actually paying a little more per ounce for it! The smaller bag is the better value here — you'd never know that just by looking at the two bags.
The only way to know for sure is to check the unit price — you can't just guess based on size.
How to Find the Unit Price
Finding a unit price just takes one simple step:
Let's try it: a box of 24 crayons costs $3.60.
$3.60 ÷ 24 = $0.15 per crayon.
That's it! Divide the total price by however many units are in the package, and you've got the unit price. Once you have the unit price for two different packages, just compare them — lower unit price means better value.
Many grocery stores print the unit price right on the shelf tag, usually in small print below the regular price. Look for it next time you're at the store — now you'll know exactly what it means!
Activity: Pick the Better Deal
Tap the product you think is the better value. Then we'll reveal the unit prices so you can check!
Activity: Calculate the Unit Price
Divide the total price by the quantity to find the unit price.