The cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal is down sharply this year, falling to the lowest price since 2021, according to the American Farm Bureau.
The farm bureau’s 40th annual survey found that a classic Thanksgiving dinner for 10 people will cost $55.18, down five percent from last year.
Since 1986, volunteers across all 50 states and Puerto Rico have been organized by the American Farm Bureau (AFB) to record local prices for turkey, cubed stuffing, sweet potatoes, dinner rolls, frozen peas, fresh cranberries, celery, carrots, pumpkin pie mix and crusts, whipping cream and whole milk.
Prices soared during the presidency of Joe Biden, with inflation rising to the worst pace in forty years. The price of a classic Thankgiving meal surged 14 percent in 2021, Biden’s first year in office, hitting a then-record high of $53.31.
Despite the administration’s insistence that the price increases were “transitory” or the result of a temporary supply shock, the following year what came to be called Bidenflation was even worse. The price of a Thanksgiving meal jumped another 20 percent, skyrocketing to $64.05.
By Biden’s final Thanksigiving, the price of a traditional family holiday meal was 24 percent higher than it was when he took office.
This year’s decline was driven by a sharp fall in the price of turkey. A 16-pound turkey will cost an average of $21.50, down 16 percent from 2024, according to the AFB.
Three other of the items on AFB’s menu dropped in price this year: cubed stuffing, fresh cranberries and dinner rolls. Five of the dishes or ingredients—sweet potatoes, frozen green peas, a vegetable tray of carrots and celery, whole milk and whipping cream—rose in price. Pumpkin pie mix and pie shells remained virtually unchanged from 2024.
Even after the price decline, the cost of a meal has still not fully recovered from the year’s of high inflation under Biden.
The decline in price vindicates President Trump’s recent claims about the Thanksgiving meal becoming more affordable for American families. The decline is all the more notable because it defies predictions that President Trump’s trade and immigration policies would drive prices up.
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