Beef Prices 2026: Ground Beef and Steak Prices, Monthly Data

Beef has become one of the most expensive parts of the American grocery bill. Ground beef, the cut most families buy, now costs almost $7 a pound on average, and USDA expects beef prices to rise faster in 2026 than any other grocery category it tracks. Below are the official monthly prices for ground beef and steak over the past two years, the reason behind the rise, and what USDA expects next.

Data checked on October 16, 2026. U.S. retail prices come from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Average Price Data and the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The latest month available is September 2026. Forecasts come from USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS), whose Food Price Outlook was updated on September 25, 2026. Cattle numbers come from USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) Cattle reports of January 30 and July 24, 2026.

Beef prices today: the short answer

In September 2026, a pound of 100% ground beef cost $6.792 on average in U.S. cities, according to BLS series APU0000703112. That is down 1.9% from August 2026 ($6.923) but up 7.4% from September 2025 ($6.323).

Cut (BLS average price, per pound)	September 2026	September 2025	1-year change	September 2024	2-year change
Ground beef, 100% beef	$6.792	$6.323	+7.4%	$5.670	+19.8%
Ground chuck, 100% beef	$6.483	$6.326	+2.5%	$5.576	+16.3%
Sirloin steak, USDA Choice, boneless	$14.106	$14.135	-0.2%	$11.787	+19.7%
Round steak, USDA Choice, boneless	$9.838	$9.360	+5.1%	$8.148	+20.7%

Source: BLS Average Price Data, U.S. city average, September 2026 release.

For comparison, the CPI for food at home (all groceries) rose 1.8% over the year to September 2026 and 4.5% over two years. Beef prices have risen four to five times faster than groceries overall.

CPI beef index: how much beef inflation is there?

The average prices above track specific cuts. The CPI covers all the beef people buy and is the measure behind the official inflation numbers.

CPI index (not seasonally adjusted)	September 2026	September 2025	1-year change
Beef and veal	512.606	495.239	+3.5%
Uncooked ground beef	442.303	419.692	+5.4%
Uncooked beef steaks	343.558	334.592	+2.7%
Food at home (all groceries)	321.758	316.042	+1.8%

Source: BLS CPI-U, U.S. city average, series CUUR0000SEFC, CUUR0000SEFC01, CUUR0000SEFC03 and CUUR0000SAF11.

Annual beef inflation slowed in the late summer. The beef and veal index was 5.9% higher in August 2026 than a year earlier, according to ERS. By September the gap had narrowed to 3.5%, because the index fell 1.3% from August to September while beef prices had been climbing quickly in the late summer of 2025. The index peaked at 522.219 in July 2026.

Monthly ground beef and steak prices: September 2024 to September 2026

The table shows BLS monthly average prices per pound. BLS did not publish October 2025 figures because no prices were collected during the 2025 lapse in federal funding.

Month	Ground beef, 100%	Ground chuck	Sirloin steak	Round steak	CPI beef and veal
September 2024	$5.670	$5.576	$11.787	$8.148	431.790
October 2024	$5.588	$5.586	$11.497	$8.154	426.449
November 2024	$5.628	$5.605	$12.014	$8.159	433.911
December 2024	$5.605	$5.576	$11.666	$8.136	433.225
January 2025	$5.545	$5.495	$11.965	$8.280	434.386
February 2025	$5.625	$5.744	$11.899	$8.485	443.105
March 2025	$5.790	$5.854	$11.924	$8.554	450.262
April 2025	$5.801	$5.996	$12.326	$8.627	453.243
May 2025	$5.981	$6.018	$12.207	$8.401	455.104
June 2025	$6.120	$6.103	$12.923	$8.457	465.866
July 2025	$6.254	$6.338	$13.554	$8.690	477.484
August 2025	$6.318	$6.626	$14.319	$9.076	490.280
September 2025	$6.323	$6.326	$14.135	$9.360	495.239
October 2025	not published	not published	not published	not published	not published
November 2025	$6.540	$6.504	$13.342	$9.665	502.259
December 2025	$6.687	$6.521	$14.027	$9.875	504.317
January 2026	$6.752	$6.693	$13.837	$9.836	499.597
February 2026	$6.739	$6.703	$14.191	$10.095	506.788
March 2026	$6.701	$6.684	$14.124	$9.610	504.885
April 2026	$6.899	$6.921	$14.727	$9.825	520.433
May 2026	$6.745	$6.718	$14.274	$9.789	513.773
June 2026	$6.825	$6.975	$14.451	$9.844	521.049
July 2026	$6.885	$6.850	$14.592	$10.036	522.219
August 2026	$6.923	$6.774	$14.357	$9.692	519.096
September 2026	$6.792	$6.483	$14.106	$9.838	512.606

Source: BLS series APU0000703112, APU0000703111, APU0000703613, APU0000703511 and CUUR0000SEFC.

What the table shows

• Ground beef climbed almost every month for two years. It passed $6 a pound in June 2025 and reached $6.923 in August 2026, the highest value in the table.
• Steak prices jumped in summer 2025 and then flattened. Sirloin rose from $12.207 in May 2025 to $14.319 in August 2025, then moved between about $13.30 and $14.70. September 2026 ($14.106) is almost exactly where it was a year earlier.
• Round steak crossed $10 a pound in February 2026 ($10.095) and again in July 2026 ($10.036).
• Prices eased in August and September 2026. Ground beef, ground chuck and sirloin all fell from their summer highs. That matches the drop in farm-level cattle prices that ERS reported for June to August 2026, described below.

Why beef is expensive: fewer cattle

Beef prices depend mostly on how many cattle are available for slaughter, and that number has been low for several years. NASS counts the national herd twice a year.

NASS Cattle report	All cattle and calves	Beef cows	Beef replacement heifers	Calf crop
January 1, 2025	86.5 million	n/a	n/a
January 1, 2026 (released January 30, 2026)	86.2 million (slightly below 2025)	27.6 million (down 1%)	4.71 million (up 1%)	2025 calf crop: 32.9 million, down 2%
July 1, 2025	94.0 million	28.65 million	3.70 million
July 1, 2026 (released July 24, 2026)	94.2 million (slightly above 2025)	28.45 million (down 1%)	3.80 million (up 3%)	2026 calf crop (expected): 32.5 million, down 2%

Sources: USDA NASS Cattle reports, January 30, 2026, and July 24, 2026. July counts are higher than January counts because they include calves born in the first half of the year.

The numbers show three things:

1. The beef cow herd is still shrinking. Beef cows fell 1% between January 2025 and January 2026, and again between July 2025 and July 2026. Fewer cows mean fewer calves.
2. The calf crop keeps getting smaller. The 2025 calf crop was 32.9 million head, down 2%. NASS expects the 2026 calf crop to be 32.5 million, another 2% lower. Those calves are the beef supply for the next one to two years.
3. Ranchers may be starting to rebuild. Beef replacement heifers, young females kept for breeding instead of sent to feedlots, were up 1% in January 2026 and up 3% in July 2026. Rebuilding helps supply in the long run. In the short run it can tighten supply, because every heifer kept for breeding is one fewer animal going to slaughter.

ERS links the small herd directly to prices. In its September 2026 Food Price Outlook, it said federally inspected beef production was about 2% lower than a year earlier and is expected to stay below year-earlier levels through the end of 2026. The September 2026 Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook forecasts U.S. beef production of 24.877 billion pounds in 2026 and 24.835 billion pounds in 2027. In other words, supply is not expected to recover next year.

Imports fill part of the gap

The United States imports beef, mostly lean trimmings used in ground beef. ERS reported July 2026 beef imports of about 542 million pounds and forecasts 6.262 billion pounds of imports for all of 2026 and 6.050 billion pounds for 2027. The September outlook also noted that cattle imports from Mexico had restarted through the Douglas, Arizona, port of entry, though in small numbers in the first weeks.

Beef price forecast for 2026

ERS forecasts the change in the yearly average price for 2026 compared with 2025. Its September 2026 forecasts for beef and related categories:

Category	2026 forecast	Forecast interval
Beef and veal (retail)	+9.4%	7.4% to 11.6%
Wholesale beef	+8.5%	3.0% to 15.0%
Farm-level cattle	+7.1%	3.8% to 10.9%
Pork (retail)	+1.2%	-0.1% to 2.6%
Poultry (retail)	+1.0%	0.0% to 2.1%
All food at home	+2.4%	1.8% to 3.0%

Source: USDA ERS Food Price Outlook, September 25, 2026. The forecasts include CPI data through August 2026.

The 9.4% forecast can look odd next to the 3.5% year-over-year rise in September. The difference comes from how ERS measures the change. It compares the average of all twelve months of 2026 with the average of all twelve months of 2025. Beef was much cheaper in early 2025 than in early 2026: the CPI for beef and veal was 434.386 in January 2025 and 499.597 in January 2026. Even if prices stay flat for the rest of 2026, the yearly average will still be well above 2025.

ERS lists beef and veal among the seven grocery categories it expects to rise faster than their 20-year average in 2026. For all food at home in 2027, ERS forecasts a 1.8% rise. Its summary does not include a separate 2027 beef forecast.

Cattle prices have started to cool

Farm-level cattle prices are an early signal for store prices. ERS reported that farm-level cattle prices fell 2.6% from May to June 2026, 2.6% from June to July and 6.4% from July to August. That left them 3.9% below August 2025, after they had been above year-earlier levels every month from January to July 2026. Wholesale beef prices fell 4.1% from June to July and 3.0% from July to August 2026, but were still 3.1% higher than in August 2025.

The September Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook gives the same picture in dollars. Fed steers in the five-area market averaged $228.27 per hundredweight in August 2026 and slipped in early September. USDA forecasts $230 for the third quarter and $225 for the fourth quarter of 2026, down from $255.76 in the second quarter. If wholesale and farm prices keep easing, store prices could level off or dip slightly in the coming months. ERS's annual forecast still points to 2026 as a year of high beef prices overall.

Beef prices in Canada

Statistics Canada publishes monthly average retail prices for several beef cuts in table 18-10-0245-01. Canadian beef prices have also risen sharply.

Cut (Canada, per kilogram)	August 2026	August 2025	1-year change
Ground beef	C$16.75	C$15.06	+11.2%
Beef striploin cuts	C$35.90	C$30.80	+16.6%
Beef top sirloin cuts	C$27.81	C$28.25	-1.6%

Source: Statistics Canada, table 18-10-0245-01, Canada total. Canada prices beef per kilogram. C$16.75 per kilogram is about C$7.60 per pound.

Canadian ground beef has risen even faster than U.S. ground beef over the past year: 11.2% versus 7.4%. Ground beef in Canada was C$13.60 per kilogram in August 2024, so it is up about 23% in two years.

How to pay less for beef

• Compare cuts by price per pound. In September 2026, round steak ($9.838) cost about 30% less per pound than sirloin ($14.106). For slow cooking, stir-fries and fajitas, cheaper cuts often work just as well.
• Look at the lean-to-fat ratio. Ground beef with more fat usually costs less. For burgers and sauces, a higher-fat blend can be fine, and you can drain the fat after cooking.
• Buy family packs and freeze. Larger packs usually cost less per pound. Divide them into portions and freeze what you will not use within a couple of days.
• Watch for store promotions. Meat departments rotate weekly specials. With prices easing at the farm and wholesale level, promotions may become more common in late 2026.
• Mix in other proteins. ERS forecasts pork prices up 1.2% and poultry up 1.0% in 2026, compared with 9.4% for beef. Eggs are forecast to be 29.4% cheaper than in 2025. See our egg prices guide.

How BLS measures beef prices

BLS collects beef prices in stores across U.S. cities each month as part of the Consumer Price Index. The average price series track specific items, such as 100% ground beef per pound or USDA Choice boneless sirloin steak per pound. They are U.S. city averages and are not seasonally adjusted. The CPI beef and veal index covers all fresh beef, including roasts and other cuts, and tracks price changes against a 1982-84 base. BLS releases both measures with the monthly CPI report. The September 2026 data came out in October 2026.

Bottom line

A pound of 100% ground beef cost $6.792 on average in the United States in September 2026, 7.4% more than a year earlier and almost 20% more than two years ago. Sirloin steak averaged $14.106 a pound. The cause is a cattle herd that is still shrinking: 86.2 million head on January 1, 2026, with a 2026 calf crop expected to be 2% smaller. USDA forecasts that beef and veal prices will average 9.4% more in 2026 than in 2025, and it expects beef production to stay low into 2027. Farm and wholesale prices eased in the summer of 2026, so store prices may level off. A large drop is unlikely until the herd grows again.

Photo: Jellaluna / CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons