Survey shows this year’s classic Thanksgiving feast will cost U.S. families less

• It is the third consecutive year of price declines, the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual holiday price survey reports.

According to American Farm Bureau Federation’s 40^th annual Thanksgiving dinner survey, a Thanksgiving dinner for your family will cost less than last year, marking the third straight year of price declines.

Prices were checked during the first week of November.

The average cost of Thanksgiving staples that make up a classic holiday feast for 10 will run you $55.18, or about $5.52 per person. The survey said that dollar amount is a 5% decrease from 2024.

The average price for a 16-pound frozen turkey is $21.50, which is $1.34 per pound, down more than 16% from last year.

“While the wholesale price for fresh turkey is up from 2024, grocery stores are featuring Thanksgiving deals and attempting to draw consumer demand back to turkey, leading to lower retail prices for a holiday bird,” American Farm Bureau Federation reported.

Other items on the Thanksgiving table the survey checked included stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream, all in quantities sufficient for 10 servings.

The survey found that half of the ingredients declined in price, including dinner rolls and stuffing. However, fresh vegetables and sweet potatoes increased, with a veggie tray up more than 61 percent and sweet potatoes are up 37 percent.

“Natural disasters partly contributed to the increase,” American Farm Bureau Federation added. “Additionally, fresh produce prices tend to be highly volatile, and even modest supply-chain disruptions, from weather, labor shortages, transportation delays or regional production setbacks, can trigger sharp, short-term spikes in prices. The continued shortage of farmworkers and rapidly increasing farm wages also played a role in rising produce costs.”

Here is a list of the individual items American Farm Bureau Federation surveyed:

• 16-pound turkey: $21.50 or $1.34 per pound (down 16.3%)
• 14-ounces of cubed stuffing mix: $3.71 (down 9%)
• 2 frozen pie crusts: $3.37 (down .8%)
• Half pint of whipping cream: $1.87 (up 3.2%)
• 1 pound of frozen peas: $2.03 (up 17.2%)
• 1 dozen dinner rolls: $3.56 (down 14.6%)
• Misc. ingredients to prepare the meal: $3.61 (down 4.7%)
• 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix: $4.16 (up .1%)
• 1 gallon of whole milk: $3.73 (up 16.3%)
• 3 pounds of sweet potatoes: $4.00 (up 37%)
• 1-pound veggie tray (carrots & celery): $1.36 (up 61.3%)
• 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries: $2.28 (down 2.8%)

Notably, prices in the South for this year’s classic Thanksgiving feast were lower than in other parts of the U.S., coming in a $50.01 for the spread of items surveyed. The highest prices were found in the West and Northeast, at $61.75 and $60.82, respectively.