Chicken Prices in the U.S.

In 2025, chicken is still the workhorse protein of the American dinner table—but it is no longer the ultra-cheap afterthought it once was. Prices have climbed meaningfully over the past decade, spiked during the pandemic and its aftermath, and are now settling into a new “normal” that’s higher than what many shoppers remember, even as some wholesale prices slide.

At the cash register, a typical U.S. grocery shopper in late 2025 is seeing:

• Around $2.06 per pound for a fresh whole chicken 

• Roughly $4.17 per pound for boneless chicken breast 

• About $1.80 per pound for chicken legs 

On average, that whole chicken is about one-third more expensive than in 2019, when prices hovered around $1.45–$1.60 per pound. Yet chicken remains substantially cheaper than many beef cuts and is increasingly the “value” protein that households trade into when budgets are tight.

This article looks at how much Americans are paying for chicken in 2025—cut by cut, store by store, and state by state—and why those prices look the way they do.

1. The headline numbers: what chicken actually costs in 2025

The most concrete way to answer “how much” is to look at official retail price data. Two of the most useful sources are:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS): monthly “average retail prices” by item (e.g., fresh whole chicken, boneless breast, legs).

• USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) and USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS): wholesale broiler and cut prices, plus retail “composite” measures.

1.1 Retail prices at the grocery store

The table below uses BLS U.S. city average prices, comparing September 2024 vs. August and September 2025 for the major chicken cuts most households buy.

Table 1 – Average U.S. Retail Chicken Prices, U.S. City Average (Dollars per pound)
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Retail Food and Energy Prices, U.S. city average and Midwest region, September 2025.

A few key things jump out from this snapshot of late 2025:

• Whole chickens and boneless breast are both more expensive than a year earlier—roughly 4–5% higher year over year.

• Drumsticks and leg quarters have actually gotten cheaper compared with 2024, which matters for value-focused shoppers.

• There was a small easing from August to September 2025 for all three cuts, suggesting that retail prices are no longer in the sharp upward spiral seen in 2021–2022.

Looking at the full monthly series for fresh whole chicken, prices in 2025 have been remarkably stable: around $2.06–$2.09 per pound from May through September. That stability is a stark contrast to the volatility of the prior few years.

1.2 How 2025 compares with pre-pandemic prices

The long-run data tell a clearer story. From 2018–2019:

• Whole chicken rarely exceeded $1.55–$1.60 per pound for more than a few months at a time.

• In 2019, the series floats mostly between $1.46 and $1.59.

By 2025, that same fresh whole bird is around $2.06. That puts today’s sticker price roughly:

• 35–40% higher than a typical 2019 month

• More than double the price Americans were paying in the early 1990s, when fresh whole chicken frequently cost under $1.00 per pound.

Yet relative to other proteins—especially beef—chicken’s price still looks modest, which helps explain why households keep flocking to it.

2. Wholesale vs. retail: what consumers don’t see on the shelf tag

Shoppers see retail prices; industry insiders obsess over wholesale broiler prices. Those wholesale numbers ripple through to grocery and restaurant menus with a lag.

In November 2025, USDA’s weekly national chicken report shows indicative wholesale prices such as:

• National composite whole bird (“WOG”): around 106–124 cents per pound (FOB plant, cents/lb).

• Boneless skinless breast (fresh, domestic): weighted average around 114 cents per pound, down sharply from over 150 cents just one month earlier.

• Wings: roughly 110 cents per pound, also down from earlier spikes.

At various points in 2025, wholesale breast prices dipped to their lowest levels since the benchmark series started, around $1.97 per pound in late August, below the same time in 2024. Bloomberg reporting in October 2025 notes that spot chicken prices are down about 18% from their summer peak as supply catches up with robust demand.

However, consumers do not see a one-for-one pass-through of those drops because:

• Retailers stagger promotions and reset shelf prices slowly.

• Packaging, labor, rent, energy, and shrink (spoilage, waste) comprise a larger share of the final price than the carcass cost alone.

• Some of the wholesale price relief is absorbed as higher margins for processors and retailers after a brutal cost squeeze in 2021–2022.

USDA’s Meat Price Spreads data show that the retail price of broilers (a composite measure across cuts) in early 2025 is still in the mid-$2.40s per pound, only modestly below 2024 levels, even as wholesale values soften.

3. Chicken vs. beef and pork: the budget protein in an inflationary world

One reason Americans are still buying so much chicken in 2025 is that other meats look even more expensive.

From the same BLS retail price table for September 2025:

• Ground chuck, 100% beef: $6.33 per pound

• All uncooked ground beef (average): $6.64 per pound

• All pork chops, per pound: around $4.35–$5.04 depending on region

Compare that to:

• Fresh whole chicken: $2.06 per pound

• Boneless chicken breast: $4.17 per pound

• Chicken legs: around $1.80 per pound

In percentage terms:

• A pound of ground beef is more than 3 times as expensive as chicken legs, and over 50% more expensive than boneless chicken breast.

• Even lower-priced roast and stew beef cuts routinely cost 8–9 dollars per pound, dwarfing the cost of a whole bird.

This price gap is showing up in corporate earnings. Tyson Foods, one of the largest meat companies in the U.S., has reported stronger demand and improving profits in its chicken segment, while its beef segment struggles under the weight of historically tight cattle supplies and high beef prices. Consumers are clearly trading down from beef to chicken when faced with limited paychecks.

4. Why chicken got more expensive: the story behind the 2020–2025 climb

The fact that chicken is still cheaper than beef does not change the reality that it feels more expensive than it used to. Several overlapping forces explain why.

4.1 Feed costs and commodity shocks

Chicken is extremely efficient at turning feed into meat—but it still needs a lot of corn and soybean meal. Feed can represent 50–70% of live production costs in commercial broiler operations, depending on market conditions (a relationship well documented in USDA and industry analyses).

From 2020–2022, global grain prices surged due to:

• Pandemic-related production and logistics disruptions

• Droughts in key growing regions

• Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting turmoil in Black Sea grain exports

Higher feed costs took time to work fully through the supply chain but helped push broiler production costs—and ultimately retail prices—higher. By 2022, fresh whole chicken was consistently around $1.80–$1.90 per pound, up from around $1.50 just a few years earlier.

By 2024–2025, grain prices eased somewhat, but not all the way back. Producers are now operating with a structurally higher cost base, making it unlikely that chicken will ever go back to its 2010-era price levels in real terms.

4.2 Labor, energy, and processing costs

Poultry production is energy- and labor-intensive:

• Hatcheries, grow-out barns, and processing plants all rely on electricity, natural gas, and fuel, which became more expensive after 2021.

• Wages in meat processing plants have increased sharply due to labor shortages, safety considerations, and competition for workers.

CPI data shows electricity and utility gas prices rising meaningfully between 2020 and 2023, and though some of these increases plateaued by 2025, they locked in a higher cost base for processors.

Some of those higher costs have been absorbed through efficiency gains and automation, but much of it has been passed on in the form of permanently higher shelf prices.

4.3 Disease and food safety costs

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has hit U.S. poultry repeatedly since 2022, especially turkeys. While chicken flocks have been less directly impacted than turkeys, the broader poultry sector has seen:

• Biosecurity upgrades, including tighter farm protocols and sanitation

• More frequent testing and monitoring

• New investments to comply with evolving Salmonella control frameworks and other regulatory initiatives

All of this adds cost.

And when something goes wrong higher up the chain, it can be expensive. In October 2025, a massive recall of nearly 5 million pounds of chicken by Hormel Foods—due to metal fragments from a conveyor belt—highlighted the financial and logistical risk built into modern poultry systems, although that particular recall affected food-service customers rather than retail shoppers.

4.4 Inflation and the “ratchet effect”

The key inflation dynamic of the early 2020s is that prices rarely fall back to their old levels once they’ve ratcheted up. Even as wholesale broiler prices retreat in 2025 and the poultry component of the CPI shows only modest year-over-year growth, price levels remain elevated.

USDA’s Food Price Outlook shows that poultry prices in August 2025 were 1.7% higher than in August 2024, and forecasts a 1.9% increase for all of 2025—far milder than the double-digit jumps in 2022, but still positive inflation.

Retailers are often quicker to raise prices when costs spike than to cut them when costs normalize, in part because:

• Consumers anchor on the higher price and may accept small discounts as “sales” rather than a reset.

• Profit margins rebuilt in 2023–2025 after being squeezed earlier.

• Operational complexity (relabeling, reprogramming POS systems, resetting promotional calendars) makes frequent small price cuts costly.

Result: even with wholesale prices easing, the consumer’s chicken bill stays high.

5. Regional and household realities: not everyone pays the same for chicken

The “U.S. city average” hides major differences in what households actually pay.

5.1 Regional price differences

BLS and FRED regional series reveal meaningful variation:

• In urban areas of the South, fresh whole chicken in September 2025 averaged about $1.91 per pound, notably cheaper than the national $2.06 average.

• Coastal metropolitan areas with higher rents and labor costs—like parts of the Northeast and West Coast—often show higher shelf prices, particularly for branded, premium, or organic chicken.

These differences reflect:

• Transportation and distribution costs

• Local wage levels

• The mix of discount vs. premium grocery formats in the region

• Consumer preferences (for example, higher demand for organic or air-chilled chicken in certain cities)

5.2 Income, store choice, and “effective” chicken prices

What people actually pay depends heavily on where and how they shop:

• Warehouse clubs and big-box retailers

  • Offer large bags of frozen boneless breast or leg quarters at significant discounts per pound.

  • May be closer to wholesale trends, with faster pass-through of price declines.

• Discount grocers and ethnic supermarkets

  • Often feature whole chickens or leg quarters at very low prices, sometimes under $1.50 per pound on promotion, especially for non-branded product.

  • May sell more bone-in cuts and fewer premium prepared items.

• Upscale supermarkets and organic specialty stores

  • Emphasize air-chilled, organic, or pasture-raised labels, where boneless breast can easily run $7–10 per pound.

  • For those shoppers, the “chicken inflation” experience has been much harsher.

Lower-income households, who are more likely to buy store brands, whole birds, and legs, have options to keep chicken relatively affordable, whereas middle- and high-income households that favor premium branded boneless cuts may perceive chicken as having become a fairly pricey protein.

6. Restaurants, fast food, and the price of chicken away from home

Americans do not just experience chicken at the supermarket. They encounter it as:

• A $5.99 rotisserie chicken

• A $14 grilled-chicken salad at a fast-casual chain

• A $7–9 chicken sandwich at a quick-service restaurant

In 2025:

• Many chains have raised menu prices repeatedly since 2021 due to higher wages, rent, and overhead—even when chicken costs improved.

• At the same time, some fast-food brands lean into chicken promotions specifically because it is cheaper than beef, using chicken sandwiches and nuggets to draw in budget-conscious consumers while hamburgers remain expensive.

For restaurants, chicken’s allure is simple:

• It is versatile (wings, tenders, breast filet, shredded thigh meat).

• It allows creative flavors (spicy, Korean, Nashville hot, etc.) without relying on premium beef pricing.

• It carries less reputational baggage than beef in climate-focused marketing.

From the consumer’s perspective, though, the chicken in a restaurant meal is bundled with:

• Service and labor

• Rent and utilities

• Packaging and disposables

So even if the underlying bird is relatively cheap, the menu price feels high compared with pre-pandemic norms—another facet of the broader inflation story.

7. Who’s winning and losing in the 2025 chicken economy?

The current price environment creates winners and losers along the supply chain.

7.1 Integrated processors and big brands

Companies like Tyson, Pilgrim’s, Sanderson-Wayne and others operate vertically integrated models: controlling breeding, feed, grow-out, and processing. By late 2025:

• Tyson reports stronger operating income in its chicken segment, as robust demand and slightly lower feed and live-bird costs help margins.

• Even with wholesale prices down from their 2022 peaks, they remain high enough to be profitable when combined with efficiency gains and product mix shifts (e.g., more value-added, seasoned, or frozen items).

The big risk for these companies is oversupply. If production grows too fast, wholesale prices fall faster than costs, compressing margins. That is one reason corporate forecasts and USDA outlooks keep a close eye on broiler production growth and export demand.

7.2 Grow-out farmers under contract

Most U.S. broilers are raised by independent farmers under contract to integrators. These farmers:

• Receive a fee per pound of live birds delivered, often subject to a competitive ranking system.

• Have faced higher construction, energy, and borrowing costs during and after the pandemic.

When wholesale prices are strong, integrators may expand placements, increasing grower utilization. But if prices soften while contracts do not improve, growers can feel squeezed: they bear higher fixed costs for barns and equipment while having relatively limited upside from favorable market prices.

7.3 Retailers and restaurants

Grocery retailers and restaurant chains that manage chicken well can:

• Use stable or declining wholesale prices to protect margins while keeping shelf prices relatively high.

• Run eyecatching chicken promotions (“$4.99 rotisserie chicken”) as loss leaders to drive store traffic.

However, competition is fierce. Retailers that pass through wholesale savings more quickly—especially in price-sensitive formats—can pull customers away from slower-moving rivals.

8. The outlook: where chicken prices are likely headed next

Forecasting any commodity price is risky, but a few grounded insights emerge from the data and institutional projections.

8.1 Official projections

USDA’s Food Price Outlook, updated in late September 2025, suggests:

• Poultry prices are expected to rise about 1.9% in 2025 overall, with a prediction interval of 0.9% to 3.0%.

• That follows much more dramatic increases earlier in the decade.

On the wholesale side, USDA’s Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook reports that:

• Broiler prices surged in 2022, moderated in 2023–2024, and are now in a range that encourages production but not rampant expansion.

In practice, the 2025 pattern so far has been:

• Stable retail prices with a slight upward tilt year over year

• Softening wholesale prices compared with recent peaks

• Strong consumption as consumers trade down from expensive beef

8.2 Structural forces likely to keep chicken from getting cheap again

Even if grain prices remain moderate, there are several reasons chicken is unlikely to return to its pre-2020 “dirt-cheap” levels:

1. Higher labor costs in processing and logistics appear permanent.

2. Regulatory and food-safety costs are structurally higher after years of HPAI outbreaks and new Salmonella frameworks.

3. Consumer preferences for convenience (pre-trimmed, marinated, boneless) and sustainability (organic, animal-welfare labels) support higher price points for many products.

4. General inflation in rent, packaging, and store overhead gets baked into margins.

The more realistic scenario is that real chicken prices hover in a narrow band, with small real-terms increases or decreases depending on feed and energy cycles, but remain well above the levels seen in the 2000s and early 2010s.

8.3 What would it take for prices to fall significantly?

For Americans to see meaningfully cheaper shelf prices—say, a return to $1.50 per pound whole birds on a sustained basis—several things would likely need to happen simultaneously:

• Sustained low feed prices for multiple years

• No major disease outbreaks or regulatory shocks

• Soft or declining consumer demand (for example, a shift away from meat)

• Intense price competition among retailers and restaurants forcing margins down

At the moment, none of those conditions are clearly in place. Feed prices are better than 2022 but not exceptionally cheap; demand is strong; and industry structure favors a degree of pricing power.

9. How households can still keep chicken affordable in 2025

Even if the overall price level is higher than pre-pandemic, there are still ways for households to bend their chicken bill down.

9.1 Buy different cuts—and cook differently

• Whole birds and leg quarters are still much cheaper per pound than boneless breast. In September 2025, whole chickens are roughly half the price of boneless breasts, and legs are even cheaper.

• A family willing to roast a whole chicken, shred the leftovers, and make stock from the bones can stretch a single bird across several meals with a very low cost per serving.

Shifting from boneless breast-centric cooking to bone-in thighs, drumsticks, or whole birds is one of the most powerful levers consumers have.

9.2 Pay attention to promotions and formats

• Weekly circulars often feature chicken as a headline promotion, especially around grilling season and holidays.

• Frozen multi-pound bags of boneless breast, thighs, or tenderloins in warehouse clubs or big-box stores can be significantly cheaper per pound than small retail trays.

• Buying in bulk when prices dip—then freezing—lets households smooth out short-term price spikes.

Because wholesale prices in 2025 have been relatively soft, promos can be especially attractive when retailers choose to pass on some of that relief.

9.3 Lean on private labels and less premium branding

• Store-brand chicken, often sourced from the same large integrators as national brands, tends to be cheaper.

• Opting out of “value-added” products (marinated strips, pre-cooked grilled chicken, breaded nuggets) in favor of plain raw chicken often cuts the price per pound substantially.

For many households, the convenience premium is worth paying sometimes—but understanding that it is a convenience premium, not a chicken premium, helps make deliberate choices.

9.4 Use chicken strategically in recipes

• Stretch chicken further by using it in stews, stir-fries, curries, and pasta dishes, where vegetables and grains carry more of the volume.

• Incorporate eggs and legumes as complementary proteins to reduce the total volume of chicken needed per meal.

These strategies matter more now that chicken, while still relatively cheap, is no longer the ultra-low-cost anchor it once was.

10. The bottom line: how much Americans are really paying for chicken in 2025

Putting all the data and context together:

• A typical U.S. shopper in late 2025 pays around $2.06 per pound for fresh whole chicken and about $4.17 per pound for boneless breast, with drumsticks under $1.80 per pound. 

• Those prices are roughly one-third higher than before the pandemic and reflect long-run increases in feed, labor, energy, and regulatory costs.

• Wholesale chicken prices, however, have come off their peaks, falling by nearly 20% from summer 2025 highs, which has helped temper further retail increases.

• Chicken remains a relative bargain compared with beef and many pork cuts, explaining why consumers are shifting toward chicken when budgets are squeezed.

• Looking ahead, official forecasts point to modest additional increases rather than a major decline, suggesting today’s chicken prices are close to the “new normal.”

For households, this means that big price relief is unlikely, but smart buying—whole birds, dark meat, promos, bulk frozen purchases—can still keep chicken one of the most budget-friendly proteins in the grocery cart.