Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people costs about 5% less than last year, according to the American Farm Federation’s annual survey. The total amount of food needed to host a typical holiday meal has decreased every year since 2022, hitting an all-time high of $64.05.
Since 1986, the Farm Federation has given the same shopping list to volunteer shoppers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico to calculate the average cost of Thanksgiving dinner.
In addition to the turkey, the list includes diced stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, frozen peas, fresh cranberries, celery, carrots, pumpkin pie mix and crust, whipped cream, and whole milk.
This year, prices fell for four of the items surveyed: main turkey, diced stuffing, fresh cranberries, and dinner rolls.
The price of a 16-pound turkey fell from $25.67 in 2024 to $21.50 this year, the lowest price for a Thanksgiving dinner since 2000.
Prices for pumpkin pie mix and frozen pie crust have remained roughly flat over the past year.
However, prices of other by-products such as sweet potatoes, frozen green peas, carrots and celery, whole milk, and whipped cream rose, with fresh vegetable prices increasing the most sharply.
The rise in prices for these items reflects the struggles farmers have faced over the past year for more expensive fertilizer, fuel, machinery, labor and land, the Farm Bureau Federation said.
Another notable setback was last fall’s damage from Hurricane Helen in North Carolina, which produces about half of the nation’s sweet potatoes.
