Thanksgiving Dinner Will Be 19% More Expensive This Year Than Before Biden Was Elected

Each year the American Farm Bureau Federation releases a price survey of classic items found on the Thanksgiving dinner table. This year, the average cost of feasting stands at $54.33, which is less than last year but still constitutes a $8.64 increase from before the pandemic.

The most expensive item by far is the turkey, which this year costs an average of $25.67 and is an increase of $4.87 from pre-pandemic levels. While most ingredients have increased somewhat, sweet potatoes, fresh cranberries and whipping cream have dropped in value.

2024 marks the second consecutive year that the average price of a Thanksgiving dinner in the United States has decreased.

However, as Statista’s Anna Feck reports, this does not erase the increases seen between 2020 and 2022, when the meal rose from an average of $46.90 to $64.05 thanks to the impacts of inflation on food prices and farmers’ costs.

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The AFBF discovered regional differences in the average cost of a Thanksgiving meal, with the most affordable prices found in the South at $56.81 and the most expensive in the West at $67.05.

The shopping list of the survey includes all ingredients and foods in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10 (though quite frankly we question the serving sizes that implies). Volunteers checked prices in grocery stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico for the Farm Bureau.