Thanksgiving dinner costs 14% more in 2021

The centerpiece on most Thanksgiving tables – the turkey – costs more than last year, at $23.99 for a 16-pound bird.

The centerpiece on most Thanksgiving tables – the turkey – costs more than last year, at $23.99 for a 16-pound bird.

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Thanksgiving dinner is costing Americans 14% more this year, with the average cost of a classic feast for 10 being $53.31, per findings announced Thursday by the American Farm Bureau Federation, an insurance company that represents the agriculture industry. 

AFBF announced the results of its 36th annual survey in a press release Thursday morning. Since 1986, the company has tracked the cost of a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Its calculation includes the prices of a 16-pound turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, coffee and milk for 10 people.

The centerpiece on most Thanksgiving tables — the turkey — costs more than last year, at $23.99 for a 16-pound bird. That’s roughly $1.50 per pound, up 24% from last year, but there are several mitigating factors, according to AFBF.

"Several factors contributed to the increase in average cost of this year’s Thanksgiving dinner," AFBF Senior Economist Veronica Nigh said in the release. "These include dramatic disruptions to the U.S. economy and supply chains over the last 20 months; inflationary pressure throughout the economy; difficulty in predicting demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and high global demand for food, particularly meat. The trend of consumers cooking and eating at home more often due to the pandemic led to increased supermarket demand and higher retail food prices in 2020 and 2021, compared to pre-pandemic prices in 2019."

Thanksgiving dinner items 2021 cost survey.

Thanksgiving dinner items 2021 cost survey.

Photo provided/AFBF

Additionally, AFBF found that the change in the cost of the Thanksgiving meal tracks closely with the changing price of food at home as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statisitics.

"Taking turkey out of the basket of foods reveals a 6.6% price increase compared to last year, which tracks closely with the Consumer Price Index for food and general inflation across the economy," Nigh said.

To conduct this year's survey, AFBF volunteer shoppers checked prices Oct. 26 to Nov. 8, about two weeks before most grocery store chains began featuring whole frozen turkeys at sharply lower prices.

Although the survey timeline is consistent with past AFBF Thanksgiving surveys, 2021 brought some unique differences. According to USDA Agricultural Marketing Service data, grocery stores began advertising lower feature prices later than usual this year.

Also, the average per-pound feature price for whole frozen turkeys was $1.07 the week of Nov. 5-11 and 88 cents the week of Nov. 12-18, a decline of 18% in just one week. This means consumers who have not yet purchased a turkey should be able to find one at a lower cost than the AFBF average, according to the release.