U.S. retail price of lean ground beef 1995-2023

In 2023, the U.S. price for one pound of lean and extra lean ground beef amounted to 6.67 U.S. dollars. While prices per pound were between five and six U.S. dollars in recent years, consumers in the United States typically paid about two U.S. dollars back in the nineties.

Ground chuck and sirloin steak

Like lean ground beef, the price of other types of meat has also risen in the United States. For example, the U.S. retail price per pound of ground chuck (100% beef) amounted to approximately 5.12 U.S. dollars in 2023 and cost about half that amount 20 years earlier. The price of boneless sirloin steak has likewise doubled: from about four U.S. dollars per pound in the nineties to almost 11 U.S. dollars in 2023.

Beef consumption

While total beef consumption in the United States had fluctuated slightly at certain intervals over the past decade and a half, the numbers have stayed fairly close to the 26-billion-pound mark . Annual per capita consumption of beef, on the other hand, has dropped considerably. In the early 2000s, the average American consumer typically ate almost 70 pounds of beef per year. By 2019, Americans consumed closer to 55 pounds annually.