Average Price Data, AP (APU0000706111) · Chicken, fresh, whole, per lb. (453.6 gm), U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted
What does a pound of whole chicken cost in the US?
The average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken was $2.026 in the month ended .
Average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken, U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted, each month
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
Average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken, U.S. city average, change from a year earlier, each month (ours)
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to , to , to , to , to , to .
Shaded bands are US recessions as the National Bureau of Economic Research dates them: to .
Each point is one month of the series as the source publishes it, or a change worked out from those values (ours). The US recessions are shaded. Pointing at the chart shows the month and the value.
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Inspect and compare dates
The newest month beside the one before it and the nearest ones a year, five and ten years earlier. Every month since January 1980 is in the table under "The numbers behind the chart".
| Measure | Latest | The month before | A year earlier | Five years earlier | Ten years earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | |||||
| Average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken, U.S. city average | $2.026 | $2.064 | $2.061 | $1.523 | $1.502 |
| Change over a year | n/a | +0.1% | +4.1% | −3.6% | +5.0% |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
Observed .
Right now
The average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken was $2.026 in October 2026, the lowest since August 2026.
ChangeOurs
| Period | Then | Change |
|---|---|---|
| One month | $2.064 in | −1.8% |
| Three months | $2.005 in | +1.0% |
| Twelve months | No value for | |
| Five years | $1.523 in | +33.0% |
| Ten years | $1.502 in | +34.9% |
In historyOurs
The average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken of $2.026 in was higher than in 540 of the 559 other months since , the same in 1 and lower in 18.
Highest since : $2.086 in . Lowest since : $0.628 in .
AverageOurs
Average since : $1.1790 (ours, a plain mean of the 560 months).
Understanding the average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken
Where it stands today
The average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken was $2.026 in October 2026.
What does the average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken measure?
This is the average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken in the United States: a series of the average price data of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), for the U.S. city average and not seasonally adjusted. BLS publishes it each month, with the Consumer Price Index, in dollars to three decimals.
Read more
BLS names the item "Chicken, fresh, whole, per lb. (453.6 gm)" and the series APU0000706111.
What 500metrics adds: the change over one month, three months, a year and five years, the highest and lowest price since the series begins, how the change over a year ranks among the items in its group on the average prices page, and every month of the series in a table by year.
The numbers behind the chart
What was the average price of a pound of fresh whole chicken in each month?One row for each year since 1980, newest first
Each row is a year and each column a month. A dash is a month with no price: before the series began, after its newest month, or a month BLS published no price for (the limits name those). The highest and lowest prices of the whole series are in bold.
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 2.041 | 2.049 | 2.033 | 2.026 | 2.036 | 2.044 | 2.005 | 2.012 | 2.064 | 2.026 | – | – |
| 2025 | 2.061 | 2.051 | 2.064 | 2.059 | 2.061 | 2.086 (highest price) | 2.078 | 2.076 | 2.061 | – | 2.044 | 2.020 |
| 2024 | 1.987 | 1.951 | 1.991 | 1.953 | 2.013 | 2.007 | 1.988 | 1.988 | 1.979 | 1.987 | 2.076 | 2.061 |
| 2023 | 1.855 | 1.894 | 1.868 | 1.873 | 1.920 | 1.953 | 1.891 | 1.958 | 1.901 | 1.926 | 1.976 | 1.955 |
| 2022 | 1.622 | 1.632 | 1.724 | 1.794 | 1.824 | 1.826 | 1.880 | 1.879 | 1.891 | 1.863 | 1.843 | 1.830 |
| 2021 | 1.595 | 1.583 | 1.543 | 1.515 | 1.486 | 1.474 | 1.435 | 1.472 | 1.504 | 1.523 | 1.583 | 1.606 |
| 2020 | 1.409 | 1.362 | 1.400 | 1.571 | – | 1.747 | 1.712 | 1.609 | 1.542 | 1.580 | 1.639 | 1.621 |
| 2019 | 1.473 | 1.486 | 1.468 | 1.463 | 1.479 | 1.590 | 1.562 | 1.514 | 1.487 | 1.538 | 1.430 | 1.450 |
| 2018 | 1.509 | 1.478 | 1.502 | 1.511 | 1.523 | 1.514 | 1.519 | 1.511 | 1.487 | 1.444 | 1.501 | 1.466 |
| 2017 | 1.418 | 1.473 | 1.462 | 1.444 | 1.499 | 1.497 | 1.496 | 1.489 | 1.480 | 1.484 | 1.451 | 1.470 |
Show 37 more rows
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1.429 | 1.478 | 1.463 | 1.496 | 1.489 | 1.408 | 1.445 | 1.426 | 1.487 | 1.502 | 1.478 | 1.463 |
| 2015 | 1.546 | 1.550 | 1.545 | 1.539 | 1.483 | 1.515 | 1.487 | 1.428 | 1.415 | 1.430 | 1.484 | 1.437 |
| 2014 | 1.529 | 1.504 | 1.544 | 1.530 | 1.556 | 1.503 | 1.495 | 1.572 | 1.543 | 1.549 | 1.533 | 1.541 |
| 2013 | 1.497 | 1.456 | 1.471 | 1.473 | 1.466 | 1.509 | 1.484 | 1.489 | 1.528 | 1.543 | 1.518 | 1.520 |
| 2012 | 1.334 | 1.356 | 1.372 | 1.401 | 1.347 | 1.390 | 1.454 | 1.433 | 1.455 | 1.530 | 1.512 | 1.482 |
| 2011 | 1.241 | 1.266 | 1.269 | 1.261 | 1.302 | 1.305 | 1.306 | 1.296 | 1.294 | 1.312 | 1.304 | 1.340 |
| 2010 | 1.265 | 1.265 | 1.231 | 1.230 | 1.259 | 1.239 | 1.280 | 1.254 | 1.276 | 1.302 | 1.277 | 1.280 |
| 2009 | 1.292 | 1.290 | 1.301 | 1.296 | 1.304 | 1.282 | 1.261 | 1.287 | 1.258 | 1.244 | 1.256 | 1.267 |
| 2008 | 1.163 | 1.159 | 1.168 | 1.176 | 1.194 | 1.181 | 1.191 | 1.223 | 1.214 | 1.205 | 1.304 | 1.305 |
| 2007 | 1.033 | 1.039 | 1.064 | 1.115 | 1.118 | 1.134 | 1.130 | 1.145 | 1.142 | 1.135 | 1.161 | 1.166 |
| 2006 | 1.062 | 1.045 | 1.047 | 1.054 | 1.034 | 1.055 | 1.040 | 1.048 | 1.063 | 1.038 | 1.049 | 1.057 |
| 2005 | 1.026 | 1.038 | 1.061 | 1.070 | 1.052 | 1.075 | 1.067 | 1.042 | 1.056 | 1.062 | 1.059 | 1.061 |
| 2004 | 1.062 | 1.060 | 1.100 | 1.120 | 1.039 | 1.060 | 1.077 | 1.092 | 1.078 | 1.078 | 1.039 | 1.030 |
| 2003 | 1.004 | 1.031 | 1.049 | 1.053 | 1.031 | 1.033 | 1.027 | 1.023 | 1.022 | 1.022 | 1.068 | 1.050 |
| 2002 | 1.091 | 1.111 | 1.110 | 1.110 | 1.094 | 1.066 | 1.077 | 1.035 | 1.074 | 1.027 | 1.044 | 1.048 |
| 2001 | 1.091 | 1.090 | 1.103 | 1.101 | 1.095 | 1.106 | 1.102 | 1.110 | 1.107 | 1.115 | 1.133 | 1.109 |
| 2000 | 1.059 | 1.046 | 1.064 | 1.069 | 1.052 | 1.069 | 1.089 | 1.086 | 1.087 | 1.090 | 1.065 | 1.078 |
| 1999 | 1.072 | 1.064 | 1.057 | 1.057 | 1.026 | 1.041 | 1.045 | 1.043 | 1.080 | 1.055 | 1.078 | 1.053 |
| 1998 | 1.022 | 1.007 | 1.032 | 1.029 | 1.032 | 1.016 | 1.033 | 1.059 | 1.074 | 1.076 | 1.084 | 1.060 |
| 1997 | 1.016 | 1.008 | 1.009 | 1.002 | 1.007 | 0.993 | 1.005 | 0.988 | 0.992 | 0.984 | 1.018 | 1.001 |
| 1996 | 0.941 | 0.940 | 0.933 | 0.947 | 0.949 | 0.968 | 0.972 | 0.990 | 1.006 | 1.021 | 1.003 | 1.002 |
| 1995 | 0.897 | 0.893 | 0.917 | 0.911 | 0.891 | 0.908 | 0.919 | 0.908 | 0.939 | 0.930 | 0.948 | 0.939 |
| 1994 | 0.899 | 0.888 | 0.891 | 0.899 | 0.902 | 0.918 | 0.920 | 0.905 | 0.901 | 0.889 | 0.904 | 0.895 |
| 1993 | 0.875 | 0.871 | 0.879 | 0.874 | 0.888 | 0.891 | 0.890 | 0.896 | 0.897 | 0.893 | 0.918 | 0.910 |
| 1992 | 0.878 | 0.849 | 0.859 | 0.861 | 0.854 | 0.861 | 0.878 | 0.882 | 0.881 | 0.865 | 0.885 | 0.879 |
| 1991 | 0.886 | 0.903 | 0.899 | 0.885 | 0.883 | 0.878 | 0.888 | 0.869 | 0.874 | 0.878 | 0.857 | 0.864 |
| 1990 | 0.882 | 0.896 | 0.928 | 0.897 | 0.902 | 0.928 | 0.917 | 0.912 | 0.907 | 0.883 | 0.880 | 0.858 |
| 1989 | 0.905 | 0.899 | 0.913 | 0.932 | 0.961 | 0.982 | 0.964 | 0.954 | 0.942 | 0.910 | 0.879 | 0.883 |
| 1988 | 0.740 | 0.745 | 0.753 | 0.760 | 0.796 | 0.868 | 0.937 | 0.961 | 0.975 | 0.932 | 0.892 | 0.885 |
| 1987 | 0.821 | 0.832 | 0.804 | 0.792 | 0.782 | 0.771 | 0.755 | 0.785 | 0.793 | 0.791 | 0.756 | 0.736 |
| 1986 | 0.766 | 0.771 | 0.767 | 0.752 | 0.769 | 0.795 | 0.889 | 0.958 | 0.910 | 0.900 | 0.878 | 0.865 |
| 1985 | 0.773 | 0.772 | 0.769 | 0.764 | 0.745 | 0.761 | 0.753 | 0.757 | 0.762 | 0.749 | 0.778 | 0.776 |
| 1984 | 0.839 | 0.867 | 0.848 | 0.844 | 0.811 | 0.817 | 0.829 | 0.788 | 0.790 | 0.764 | 0.771 | 0.753 |
| 1983 | 0.689 | 0.699 | 0.698 | 0.676 | 0.687 | 0.699 | 0.724 | 0.740 | 0.769 | 0.737 | 0.766 | 0.812 |
| 1982 | 0.712 | 0.726 | 0.715 | 0.712 | 0.720 | 0.732 | 0.740 | 0.717 | 0.713 | 0.700 | 0.694 | 0.682 |
| 1981 | 0.749 | 0.759 | 0.755 | 0.734 | 0.706 | 0.717 | 0.767 | 0.752 | 0.728 | 0.712 | 0.702 | 0.700 |
| 1980 | 0.699 | 0.673 | 0.655 | 0.638 | 0.628 (lowest price) | 0.640 | 0.710 | 0.751 | 0.791 | 0.792 | 0.766 | 0.760 |
The table scrolls sideways; the first column stays in place.
What do these figures leave out, and how are they cited?Limits, dates and how to cite
What this number cannot tell you
- The price is an average of the retail prices that BLS collects from a sample of sellers, for the U.S. city average. It is not a price index. BLS measures the change of prices with the Consumer Price Index, and the change over a year on this page, worked out from the averages, can differ from the change of the index.
- BLS did not collect prices for October 2025 because of the lapse in appropriations, so the page has no price for that month and the chart shows a gap.
- BLS published no price for 1 other month: May 2020.
- The changes, the ranks and the highest and lowest prices are ours, worked out from the values BLS publishes. A change is in percent.
- BLS.gov cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from BLS.gov.
Observed . Checked .
How to cite this
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data, Chicken, fresh, whole, per lb. (453.6 gm), U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted, through October 2026. Compiled by 500metrics, "What does a pound of whole chicken cost in the US?", https://500metrics.com/average-prices/whole-chicken.
Recession dates from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
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