Scenario
Updated June 3, 2026 · Calculator-driven, not editor-picked
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 is exactly why it doesn't crack our top five. The cards that win reward more than one category and never run out of bonus rate.
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 nets below our top five. Amex Gold caps at $25,000/yr, so all $9,600 earns 4x (~8% effective at typical valuations) — and it pays 4x on dining too. Behind Gold, a cluster of no-cap 3x-everything cards (Citi Strata Premier, Chase Aeroplan) also beat BCP by rewarding this family's dining, gas, and travel. The lesson: on a real family wallet, breadth plus an uncapped rate beats a single capped headline number.
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 effective fees) for good-credit applicants.Run your own numbers in the calculator.
$1,261/yr
net rewards
4x on US supermarkets up to $25,000/yr means every grocery dollar here earns the bonus rate — and it also pays 4x on dining. Effective fee is ~$1/yr if you use the $120 Uber, $120 dining, and $84 Dunkin' credits (auto-applied to specific partners). If you don't reliably hit those partners, the effective fee climbs toward $170 and the lead narrows — but it still tops this profile at ~$1,261/yr.
$830/yr
net rewards
3x on groceries — and on dining, gas, AND travel — with a $95 fee the annual $100 hotel credit erases to about $0 effective, and no cap to track. Nets ~$830/yr: less than Gold's 4x, but it rewards the whole wallet rather than just the supermarket, at zero net cost.
$663/yr
net rewards
3x on groceries, dining, and Air Canada flights at $95, plus 25,000 anniversary miles. Aeroplan points transfer to 45+ Star Alliance partners. Nets ~$663/yr — the pick if this family ever flies internationally and wants grocery rewards in the same card.
$639/yr
net rewards
Only 2x on groceries — it makes the list on its 4x gas and 5x streaming plus a low $45 effective fee, not its grocery rate. A fit if the wallet leans gas/streaming alongside the groceries; otherwise the 3x-grocery cards above net more.
$626/yr
net rewards
No grocery bonus at all (1x), yet it sneaks into the top five on a roughly $0 effective fee (after the CLEAR credit) and 3x on dining, transit, and travel. A cheap all-rounder, not a grocery specialist — it lands here only because the family also spends on dining and travel.
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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.