The cost of Thanksgiving dinner has decreased for the second year in a row. A survey has been published Wednesday, but still at a high level.
The traditional holiday meal costs $58.08 for 10 people, or less than $6 per person, down 5% from 2023, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation's (AFBF) annual Thanksgiving Dinner Survey. .
Last year, the same number of guests cost about $6.12 per guest, or $61.17 total.
Prices have risen in recent years. In 2022, the highest price ever recorded in the study, the total cost of a meal was $64.05, compared to about $53.31 the year before. For most of the past decade, prices hovered around $50.
This year, the prices of some staple dinner items have decreased, while others have increased. Prices were reduced on seven items, including turkey, sweet potatoes, frozen peas, carrot and celery trays, pumpkin pie mix, puff pastry and whole milk.
Meanwhile, prices for dinner rolls, fresh cranberries, whipped cream and stuffed cubes rose.
“The biggest increase in Thanksgiving dinner costs this year came from processed items, with dinner rolls and stuffed cubes both up more than 8% from 2023,” said AFBF economists Bernt Nelson and Samantha Ayoub. he writes. “Non-food inflation and labor shortages are driving up costs for partners across the food supply chain.”
“The next biggest increase in price was for fresh cranberries at 12%,” they added. “This is a stabilization of prices after a significant 18% price decline from 2022 to 2023.”
Since the agriculture trade group began tracking turkey prices in 1986, turkey items account for an average of 43 percent of the total cost of a meal. This year is at a similar level, with a single 16-pound turkey accounting for 44.2% of the total cost of a dinner for 10 people.
Broken down by region, the western region will bear the highest costs. Their bills are at least 15% higher than in other parts of the country, coming in at about $67.81 for a banquet for 10 people.
The Midwest comes in second at $58.90, followed by the Northeast at $57.36, but dinner in the South appears to be the cheapest at $56.81.
