Good news: Thanksgiving prices are down this year

Nov 26, 2025 by AFP

Good news: Your Thanksgiving dinner will be a bit more affordable this year!

According to the latest report from the American Farm Bureau Federation, this year you will pay less for your turkey, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls, green peas, and sweet potatoes at the supermarket.

There’s still a long way to go, however, as the report shows we haven’t recovered from the 2022 inflation spike.

But things are moving in the right direction, and after years of economic mayhem, it’s good to have a win.

So, what’s going on with our Thanksgiving dinner, and how can we ensure those prices keep going down?

Thanksgiving costs are coming down.

Let’s dive into the stats from the AFPB report.

This year, the average price for a Thanksgiving family dinner for 10 people is around $55.18, or around $5.50 per person, which is a 5% decrease compared to last year.

One of the biggest savings this year came from the main dish, as turkey is down more than 16% compared to last year. And while other items — such as carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes — went up, the savings we’re getting with cheaper turkey offset those hikes.

So, if you’re a turkey lover, you’re getting much more bang for your buck this year!

There are also some regional differences, with Americans in the West and Northeast paying almost $10 more than those in the South, but the overall trend remains positive.

However, we can’t really pop the champagne and celebrate, because the reality is that prices are still way higher than they should be.

… but there’s still a long way to go

Even with this year’s decline, prices remain above where they were before the 2022 Biden inflation surge.

Here’s how prices stack up:

In 2019, before Covid and Biden’s bad economic policies wrecked the economy, a Thanksgiving meal was around $48.91
In 2022, thanks to Biden’s reckless policies, the Thanksgiving dinner went to a whopping $64.05, almost $20 in three years (!)

So, while prices are (thankfully) way down from 2022, they’re still higher than they should be, especially as real median income just barely went back to 2019 levels after years of decline and stagnation.

So, we’re just recovering from a crisis that shouldn’t have happened, a crisis that has one culprit: Washington’s bad economic policies.

Big government costs us dearly.

Between 2021 and 2025, Washington followed a tired and failed economic recipe book:

Massive government spending
Record-breaking budget deficits
Policies that discouraged production, raised costs for farmers, and disrupted supply chains
Overregulating energy and other industries on ideological grounds

The result was just as expected and painful for millions of Americans.

Families saw inflation spike dramatically between those four years, and wages simply couldn’t keep pace. Essentials such as meat, eggs, cereal, and produce became too expensive.

It’s no surprise that the 2022 Thanksgiving dinner became the costliest in the history of the AFBF survey.

A path forward

Fortunately, we already know what we need to do to make life affordable for all Americans: get Washington to use some old-fashioned common sense.

How does that look?

Tax relief for Americans: Don’t punish hardworking Americans with higher taxes.
Balanced budget: Don’t spend more than you make and lead America to even more debt.
Encourage competition by cutting red tape.

At Americans for Prosperity, we’re standing together for commonsense reforms such as the Working Families Tax Cuts to stop a massive tax hike, the REINS Act to cut red tape, and the SPEED Act for faster permitting.

And we need your help.

Join us and thousands of Americans across the country and help drive change from the ground up by clicking here.