Work · Wholesale beef
Boxed beef prices today
What beef sells for when packers sell it by the box to grocers, restaurants and processors: USDA’s daily boxed beef cutout for Choice and Select, and the price of every cut that traded, per hundredweight and per pound. From the negotiated sales packers report to USDA, updated every business day.
- Report for
- Thu, Oct 29
- Choice cutout
- $3.67 −$1.72
- Select cutout
- $3.52 −$3.62
- Choice over Select
- $0.16
- Loads sold
- 77
The pages update every morning and when USDA posts new prices. This updates them now, for everyone (once an hour).
The boxed beef cutout today
On Thursday, October 29, the Choice cutout was $3.67 per hundredweight, down $0.02 from the day before, and Select was $3.52, down $0.04. Choice ran $0.16 over Select. Packers sold 69 loads of Choice cuts and 8 of Select on negotiated deals that day, plus 9 of trimmings and 15 of coarse ground beef.
Is today’s Choice cutout high or low? · On the low side
Higher than on 59 of the other 254 business days in the past year.
Lowest of the yearHighest of the year
A year earlier (Oct 29, 2025) the Choice cutout was $3.81; today’s is −3.7% against that. Over the past year it averaged $3.77, from a low of $3.47 (Dec 31, 2025) to a high of $4.03 (Mar 17, 2026). The highest on record since Jan 2, 2020 is $4.75, on May 12, 2020. At $3.67 per hundredweight, a Choice carcass’s cuts are worth about $3.67 a pound.
The cutout, day by day Oct 30, 2025 to Oct 29, 2026
- Choice
- Select
The last 10 reports Dollars per hundredweight
| Day | Choice | Change | Select | Change | Spread | Loads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, Oct 29 | $3.67 | −$1.72 | $3.52 | −$3.62 | $0.16 | 77 |
| Wed, Oct 28 | $3.69 | −$3.22 | $3.55 | −$3.60 | $0.14 | 80 |
| Tue, Oct 27 | $3.72 | +$2.78 | $3.59 | +$1.29 | $0.13 | 91 |
| Mon, Oct 26 | $3.69 | +$3.65 | $3.58 | +$4.87 | $0.12 | 62 |
| Fri, Oct 23 | $3.66 | −$3.68 | $3.53 | +$2.28 | $0.13 | 104 |
| Thu, Oct 22 | $3.69 | −$3.12 | $3.50 | −$4.93 | $0.19 | 101 |
| Wed, Oct 21 | $3.73 | −$0.71 | $3.55 | −$6.20 | $0.17 | 73 |
| Tue, Oct 20 | $3.73 | +$1.72 | $3.62 | +$1.63 | $0.12 | 73 |
| Mon, Oct 19 | $3.72 | −$0.73 | $3.60 | +$6.86 | $0.12 | 59 |
| Fri, Oct 16 | $3.72 | −$1.67 | $3.53 | +$0.43 | $0.19 | 109 |
Primal values today
The cutout is built from seven primals, the big sections a carcass is first broken into. Each value is what that primal’s cuts were worth on Thursday, Oct 29, 2026, per hundredweight of the primal. Click one for its history and the cuts it is made of.
Wholesale price of every beef cut today
Every cut that traded on Thursday, Oct 29, 2026, 37 in all, by primal and dearest first. Prices are the weighted average of the day’s negotiated sales, per pound, with the price per hundredweight USDA reports under it. “Week” is the change from the same grade’s price a week earlier. The code after each name is its IMPS number and fat limitation (see how to read the codes). Click a cut for every day on record and to check a price you were quoted.
Rib
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ribeye, boneless, heavy | 112A · 3 | $15.91 $15.91/cwt | $12.98 $12.98/cwt | −1.8% | 22,787 |
| Ribeye, lip-on, bone-in | 109E · 1 | $13.82 $13.82/cwt | — | +0.6% | 72,128 |
Chuck
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck flap | 116G · 4 | $7.99 $7.99/cwt | — | +1.0% | 44,353 |
| Clod tender | 114F · 5 | $7.60 $7.60/cwt | — | −0.6% | 9,824 |
| Top blade flat iron steaks | 114D · 3 | $6.14 $6.14/cwt | — | +11.5% | 17,814 |
| Chuck short rib | 130 · 4 | $5.87 $5.87/cwt | — | −2.8% | 106,757 |
| Chuck roll, neck off | 116A · 3 | $5.69 $5.69/cwt | $5.65 $5.65/cwt | −1.5% | 375,360 |
| Clod arm roast | 114E · 3 | $4.97 $4.97/cwt | — | +2.3% | 78,622 |
| Shoulder clod, trimmed | 114A · 3 | $4.24 $4.24/cwt | $4.30 $4.30/cwt | +2.0% | 57,876 |
| Shoulder clod | 114 · 1 | $4.22 $4.22/cwt | — | +4.6% | 5,364 |
| Chuck tender | 116B · 1 | $3.90 $3.90/cwt | — | −2.3% | 54,864 |
Round
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top inside round, cap off top round | 169A · 5 | $5.06 $5.06/cwt | — | −8.3% | 41,936 |
| Top inside round, denuded top round | 169 · 5 | $4.04 $4.04/cwt | — | −7.3% | 23,843 |
| Eye of round | 171C · 3 | $3.95 $3.95/cwt | — | +2.3% | 147,908 |
| Knuckle, peeled sirloin tip | 167A · 4 | $3.78 $3.78/cwt | $3.83 $3.83/cwt | −0.2% | 271,307 |
| Outside round bottom round flat | 171B · 3 | $3.66 $3.66/cwt | $3.83 $3.83/cwt | −2.4% | 182,050 |
| Top inside round top round | 168 · 3 | $3.64 $3.64/cwt | $3.54 $3.54/cwt | −0.4% | 366,216 |
Loin
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenderloin, trimmed, heavy filet mignon | 189A · 4 | $16.07 $16.07/cwt | $15.00 $15.00/cwt | −0.6% | 151,469 |
| Butt tender, trimmed | 191A · 4 | $15.32 $15.32/cwt | $14.51 $14.51/cwt | +0.4% | 19,674 |
| Strip loin, boneless, 0x1 New York strip | 180 · 3 | $9.14 $9.14/cwt | $7.72 $7.72/cwt | −1.6% | 202,808 |
| Short loin, 0x1 | 174 · 3 | $8.19 $8.19/cwt | — | 0.0% | 27,663 |
| Strip loin, bone-in, 1x1 New York strip | 175 · 3 | $7.88 $7.88/cwt | — | +1.5% | 8,733 |
| Bottom sirloin flap flap meat | 185A · 4 | $7.25 $7.25/cwt | — | −4.5% | 15,067 |
| Tri-tip, peeled | 185D · 4 | $6.81 $6.81/cwt | — | +2.6% | 8,716 |
| Top sirloin butt, center cut top sirloin | 184B · 3 | $6.81 $6.81/cwt | — | +0.7% | 52,908 |
| Ball tip, boneless, heavy | 185B · 1 | $5.45 $5.45/cwt | $5.23 $5.23/cwt | +1.1% | 45,167 |
| Top sirloin butt, boneless top sirloin | 184 · 3 | $4.97 $4.97/cwt | $4.99 $4.99/cwt | +2.0% | 52,578 |
| Tri-tip | 185C · 1 | $4.67 $4.67/cwt | $4.68 $4.68/cwt | +0.4% | 36,195 |
Brisket
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket flat, point off, boneless | 120A · 3 | $6.50 $6.50/cwt | — | −7.6% | 2,519 |
| Brisket, deckle off, boneless | 120 · 1 | $3.91 $3.91/cwt | $3.80 $3.80/cwt | +1.1% | 212,340 |
Short plate
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outside skirt, peeled any grade skirt steak | 121E · 6 | $14.27 $14.27/cwt | — | −0.2% | 2,405 |
| Outside skirt any grade skirt steak | 121C · 4 | $8.39 $8.39/cwt | — | −3.4% | 10,237 |
| Short plate short rib | 123A · 3 | $6.66 $6.66/cwt | $7.28 $7.28/cwt | −11.7% | 60,635 |
| Inside skirt any grade skirt steak | 121D · 4 | $6.37 $6.37/cwt | — | +0.1% | 65,834 |
Flank
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flank steak | 193 · 4 | $5.86 $5.86/cwt | — | −1.7% | 41,374 |
Other cuts
| Cut | Code | Choice, per lb | Select, per lb | Week | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cap and wedge meat any grade | · 4 | $4.65 $4.65/cwt | — | +2.6% | 65,527 |
| Pectoral meat any grade | · 4 | $4.53 $4.53/cwt | — | −1.8% | 74,065 |
Budget a buy Today’s USDA prices for your order
Add the cuts and pounds you buy to see what the order comes to at today’s weighted averages, and what it would have cost a week ago.
Didn’t trade on Thursday, Oct 29, 2026: Bottom round, gooseneck (last Oct 28, 2026), Chuck roll, retail ready (last Oct 23, 2026), Chuck, semi-boneless, neck off (last Oct 26, 2026), Ribeye, boneless, light (last Oct 28, 2026), Top inside round, fat limitation 1 (last Oct 28, 2026), Top sirloin butt, boneless, heavy (last Oct 26, 2026). A cut with no sales has no price that day, which is different from a price of zero.
Ground beef and trimmings today
Ground beef is sold by lean percentage (81% lean is 81% lean and 19% fat) and isn’t split by grade. Trimmings are the lean and fat left from cutting, sold to grinders by their lean content.
| Item | Per lb | Week | Pounds | Trades |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ground beef, 93% lean | $5.04 $5.04/cwt | −2.1% | 10,994 | 5 |
| Ground beef, 85% lean | $4.04 $4.04/cwt | −3.2% | 82,672 | 7 |
| Ground beef, 81% lean | $3.11 $3.11/cwt | −5.6% | 270,156 | 25 |
| Ground beef, 73% lean | $2.33 $2.33/cwt | −0.7% | 104,152 | 10 |
| Fresh 50% lean trimmings | $0.81 $0.81/cwt | −3.0% | 367,353 | 18 |
Biggest moves from a week ago
Choice cuts (and the cuts sold without a grade) with at least 10 trades on Thursday, Oct 29, 2026, against their own price on the last business day a week or more before. A cut with only a few sales can swing a long way on one deal, so those are left out.
Up
| Cut | Per lb | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Top blade | $6.14 from $5.51 | +11.5% |
| Eye of round | $3.95 from $3.86 | +2.3% |
| Clod arm roast | $4.97 from $4.86 | +2.3% |
| Top sirloin butt, boneless | $4.97 from $4.87 | +2.0% |
| Shoulder clod, trimmed | $4.24 from $4.15 | +2.0% |
| Brisket, deckle off, boneless | $3.91 from $3.87 | +1.1% |
Down
| Cut | Per lb | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Short plate short rib | $6.66 from $7.54 | −11.7% |
| Top inside round, denuded | $4.04 from $4.36 | −7.3% |
| Outside skirt | $8.39 from $8.68 | −3.4% |
| Chuck short rib | $5.87 from $6.05 | −2.8% |
| Outside round | $3.66 from $3.75 | −2.4% |
| Chuck tender | $3.90 from $4.00 | −2.3% |
The boxed beef cutout since 2020
Every business day since Jan 2, 2020, 1,740 reports in all. The chart shows each week’s average; the table each month’s, in dollars per hundredweight.
- Choice
- Select
- Jan 2, 2020 to Oct 29, 2026
Average Choice cutout by month
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 361 | 369 | 395 | 385 | 391 | 394 | 372 | 378 | 378 | 373 | · | · | 380 |
| 2025 | 330 | 318 | 324 | 337 | 353 | 381 | 377 | 395 | 393 | 370 | 374 | 358 | 359 |
| 2024 | 291 | 297 | 309 | 299 | 305 | 320 | 320 | 314 | 304 | 314 | 310 | 316 | 308 |
| 2023 | 276 | 276 | 284 | 301 | 304 | 330 | 309 | 310 | 306 | 303 | 298 | 292 | 299 |
| 2022 | 283 | 271 | 258 | 269 | 260 | 268 | 268 | 264 | 253 | 252 | 259 | 260 | 264 |
| 2021 | 217 | 237 | 233 | 275 | 318 | 324 | 274 | 324 | 318 | 283 | 283 | 265 | 279 |
| 2020 | 212 | 208 | 230 | 260 | 420 | 239 | 203 | 217 | 220 | 212 | 228 | 218 | 239 |
The cutout’s usual year
Each month against its own year’s average: the median over 2020–2025. Prices drifted a long way in those years, so comparing a month to its own year shows the seasonal swing without the drift, and the median keeps one wild year from making a season (in May 2020, with packing plants shut, the cutout set its record). The Choice cutout usually runs highest in June (+5.0%) and lowest in February (−9.5%).
- Jan−7.9%
- Feb−9.5%
- Mar−4.4%
- Apr−0.4%
- May+0.4%
- Jun+5.0%
- Jul+2.5%
- Aug+2.8%
- Sep+0.5%
- Oct+1.5%
- Nov+0.1%
- Dec−2.0%
Download the data
These files are also listed with every other dataset on this site, on Open data.
Everything on this page and the cut pages, as plain CSV files anyone can open in a spreadsheet or load into code. They’re rewritten at least once a day with the newest report and are free to use: the numbers are USDA’s, and U.S. government data is in the public domain. Credit USDA AMS Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News.
| File | Rows | Size | What’s in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| boxed-beef-cutout-daily.csv | 1,740 | 259 KB | The cutout and primal values, every day since Jan 2, 2020 |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2026.csv | 12,689 | 1,518 KB | Every cut, every day of 2026 so far |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2025.csv | 16,325 | 1,956 KB | Every cut, every day of 2025 |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2024.csv | 17,101 | 2,049 KB | Every cut, every day of 2024 |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2023.csv | 17,048 | 2,041 KB | Every cut, every day of 2023 |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2022.csv | 17,000 | 2,033 KB | Every cut, every day of 2022 |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2021.csv | 17,035 | 2,040 KB | Every cut, every day of 2021 |
| boxed-beef-cut-prices-2020.csv | 16,960 | 2,031 KB | Every cut, every day of 2020 |
The newest report is also one plain JSON file, latest.json: the cutout, the primals and every cut that traded, with plain names, codes, both units and a link to each cut’s page. Any site or script can fetch it, no key needed, and it changes only when USDA posts a new report.
The columns
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| date | The report date, YYYY-MM-DD. Sales are for product delivered within 0 to 21 days. |
| choice_cutout, select_cutout | The day’s cutout value for 600 to 900 lb carcasses, dollars per hundredweight (100 lb) of carcass. |
| choice_select_spread | Choice minus Select. |
| choice_loads … coarse_ground_loads | Volume sold that day, in loads of 40,000 lb: Choice cuts, Select cuts, trimmings and coarse ground beef. |
| rib_choice … flank_select | Each primal’s composite value, dollars per hundredweight of the primal. |
| section | cut (sold by grade), mixed (sold without a grade, such as skirts), ground, blended or trim. |
| usda_description | The item exactly as USDA lists it (runs of spaces made one). The code in brackets is the IMPS number and the fat limitation. |
| name, imps, fat_limitation, primal | A plain name, and the item’s code and primal pulled out into their own columns. Blank where USDA gives none. |
| grade | choice, select, or blank for items sold without a grade. |
| low, high, weighted_average | The day’s lowest and highest sale and the volume-weighted average, dollars per hundredweight. |
| weighted_average_per_lb | The same weighted average per pound. |
| trades, pounds | How many sales and how many pounds the price is based on. Blank where USDA kept them confidential. |
A cut that didn’t trade has no row for that day. USDA prints those as $0.00, which here is left out rather than read as a price of zero, so averages and charts aren’t dragged toward nothing.
Every cut page
58 pages, each with its daily price history, a year-by-month table and the cut’s usual seasonal swing. Cuts that didn’t trade today are still here.
Rib
Chuck
- Chuck flap 116G
- Chuck roll, neck off 116A
- Chuck roll, retail ready 916A
- Chuck short rib 130
- Chuck tender 116B
- Chuck, semi-boneless, neck off 113C
- Clod arm roast 114E
- Clod tender 114F
- Shoulder clod 114
- Shoulder clod, trimmed 114A
- Top blade 114D
Round
- Bottom round, gooseneck 170
- Eye of round 171C
- Knuckle, peeled 167A
- Outside round 171B
- Top inside round 168
- Top inside round, cap off 169A
- Top inside round, denuded 169
- Top inside round, fat limitation 1 168
Loin
- Ball tip, boneless, heavy 185B
- Bottom sirloin flap 185A
- Butt tender, trimmed 191A
- Short loin, 0x1 174
- Strip loin, bone-in, 1x1 175
- Strip loin, boneless, 0x1 180
- Tenderloin, trimmed, heavy 189A
- Top sirloin butt, boneless 184
- Top sirloin butt, boneless, heavy 184
- Top sirloin butt, center cut 184B
- Tri-tip 185C
- Tri-tip, peeled 185D
Brisket
Short plate
Flank
Other cuts
Ground beef and trimmings
More USDA market prices on this site
Questions
What is the boxed beef cutout?
It’s an estimate of what a beef carcass is worth broken down into the boxed cuts packers actually sell. USDA prices every cut from the day’s sales, weights them by how much of a typical carcass each one makes up, and adds them up. The result is a single number, in dollars per hundredweight of carcass, that the whole beef trade watches: when the cutout rises, packers are getting more for the same animal.
What does “per hundredweight” mean?
Per 100 pounds, written cwt. Divide by 100 for the price per pound: a cut at $1,546.81 per cwt is $15.47 a pound. These are wholesale prices for whole subprimals in boxes, FOB the packing plant, so they’re well below what the same cut costs cut and wrapped at a store.
What’s the difference between Choice and Select?
They’re USDA quality grades, set mostly by marbling, the fat inside the muscle. Choice has more, Select less. Most fed beef in the U.S. grades Choice, so it trades in far bigger volume, and it costs more. The Choice–Select spread is how much more that day.
How do I read a cut’s code, like 112A · 3?
The first part is the cut’s number in the Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications (IMPS), the catalog buyers use to order beef: 112A is a boneless ribeye. The second is USDA’s fat limitation, how closely the outside fat is trimmed:
| Fat limitation | Trim |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3/4 inch average fat, 1 inch at most |
| 2 | 1/4 inch average fat, 1/2 inch at most |
| 3 | 1/8 inch average fat, 1/4 inch at most |
| 4 | Practically free of fat (at least 75% of the surface lean) |
| 5 | Peeled or denuded |
| 6 | Peeled or denuded, with the surface membrane removed |
Where does the data come from, and when?
From USDA’s National Daily Boxed Beef Cutout and Boxed Beef Cuts, Negotiated Sales, afternoon report (LM_XB403). Packers are required by law to report their sales under Livestock Mandatory Reporting, and USDA publishes the totals every business day in the middle of the afternoon, Central time. The figures at the top of this page update within about half an hour of USDA posting them, and the whole page by evening. The latest is for Oct 29, 2026; the next is due Fri, Oct 30, 2026.
Why does a cut sometimes have no price?
Because nobody bought it on a negotiated deal that day, or too few did for USDA to publish it without giving away who traded. Those days are left blank rather than counted as zero.
How it works
Copied Oct 30, 2026- The history is USDA’s own. USDA keeps every report and its Livestock Mandatory Reporting datamart hands out any stretch of them, with no key. So nothing here keeps a second copy of what USDA already stores: at least once a day a GitHub Action reads back the CSV downloads, which hold every day already fetched, and asks USDA only for the last month or two, in case a report was corrected.
- It keeps every cut once a day. From those it rebuilds this board, a page for every cut and the CSVs: one row per cut, grade and day, with the low, the high, the weighted average, the trades and the pounds. A cut that didn’t trade gets no row, never a zero.
- A Cloudflare Worker watches for the next report. The same small Worker behind this site’s reefer rate board and border wait board checks USDA every half hour and keeps only the newest report. When this page’s copy is older than a report that should be out, the page asks the Worker and puts the new figures at the top, usually within half an hour of USDA posting them. The rest of the time the page asks nothing, so however many people visit, it costs nothing to run.
Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News. The numbers are theirs and are public; any mistakes in presenting them are mine. The Worker’s code is in the worker folder of this site’s repository.