‘Stubbornly high’: Summer cookout cost nearly unchanged from 2024

Families celebrating the Fourth of July will still face high grocery bills, with prices down an average of just 30 cents from last year’s record, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 2025 marketbasket survey.

This year’s Independence Day cookout for 10 people is expected to cost $70.92, or about $7.09 per person – the second-highest total since AFBF began tracking prices in 2013. While the survey doesn’t include every possible holiday food item, it offers a snapshot of what families are paying this summer.

“Inflation and lower availability of some food items continue to keep prices stubbornly high for America’s families,” AFBF Associate Economist Samantha Ayoub said.

The survey includes cookout staples such as cheeseburgers, chicken breasts, pork chops, homemade potato salad, strawberries and ice cream. Prices rose for ground beef, potato salad and canned pork and beans, while pork chops, chips and hamburger buns saw slight declines.

Two pounds of ground beef now cost $13.33, up 4.4% from last year. Pork and beans are up 20 cents to $2.69, and potato salad rose 6.6% to $3.54.

Several factors influence these increases, reflecting the sort of challenges farmers regularly face. Fewer cattle are available for processing, which is affecting supplies. Steel and aluminum tariffs mean increased prices on canned goods. Egg prices – important for potato salad – remain elevated, though they’ve dropped from earlier record highs as flocks recover from avian influenza.

“As we turn to celebrate the Fourth of July in Illinois communities and at home, I’m proud of the work Illinois farmers do to continue to provide a safe, abundant, nutritious food supply for consumers,” Illinois Farm Bureau President Brian Duncan said. “It is also important to remember that higher grocery store prices don’t necessarily mean that farmers are benefiting. We are price takers, not price makers.”

Farmers’ share of the food retail dollar is only 15%, while the cost of running their farm is up, from labor and transportation to taxes, Ayoub said.

Six cookout staples did show a price reduction, including a 3-pound package of pork chops, which is down 8.8% from last year, at $14.13, as well as chips averaging $4.80 a bag, a dime less than 2024 and hamburger buns are 2.6% less expensive, at $2.35.

The amount of pork available to stores is up, which is pushing prices down, and demand for potatoes has eased, helping bring down the cost of chips. Additionally, wheat prices are still much lower than record highs of three years ago, contributing to the slight decrease in the cost of buns.

This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.