Ground beef, 81% lean
USDA’s daily wholesale price for ground beef, 81% lean, sold by packers in boxes on negotiated deals. The latest price, for Oct 29, 2026, is $3.11 per hundredweight, or $3.11 a pound.
- Price
- $3.11/lb −6.0%
- Pounds sold
- 270,156
- Trades
- 25
Is today’s price high or low? · On the low side
Higher than on 2 of the other 254 days it traded in the past year.
Lowest of the yearHighest of the year
A year earlier (Oct 29, 2025) it was $3.45 per hundredweight; today’s price is −10.0% against that. Over the past year it traded on 255 days, averaging $3.71, from a low of $3.08 (Aug 3, 2026) to a high of $4.29 (Jun 29, 2026). In a usual year (2020–2025) it runs highest in June (+10.3% against its own year’s average) and lowest in December (−15.9%).
Check a price Against USDA’s sales of this item
Enter a price per pound to see where it sits against the day’s sales and the past year.
USDA’s prices are for full boxes, FOB the packing plant. A delivered price also covers freight and whoever handles the boxes in between, so a quote somewhat above USDA’s range can still be a fair one.
What it costs after trimming Your yield, your numbers
Enter the yield from your own cutting test: the share of the box’s weight you end up selling after trim, fat and bone.
The price starts at USDA’s latest weighted average; change it to what you actually pay. Cost per sellable pound is the price plus labor, divided by the yield.
Every week on record Jan 2, 2020 to Oct 29, 2026
- Price
- Weekly average, dollars per hundredweight
Each point is the average of the week’s daily prices. Gaps are stretches of three weeks or more with no sales. On record since Jan 2, 2020: 1,740 days with a price.
Average Price price by month $ per lb
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3.75 | 3.72 | 3.81 | 3.78 | 4.00 | 4.16 | 3.62 | 3.48 | 3.37 | 3.35 | · | · | 3.70 |
| 2025 | 3.28 | 2.94 | 2.72 | 2.90 | 3.48 | 3.73 | 3.61 | 3.82 | 3.69 | 3.32 | 3.56 | 3.43 | 3.37 |
| 2024 | 2.64 | 2.68 | 2.76 | 2.82 | 2.94 | 3.15 | 3.30 | 3.36 | 2.96 | 2.87 | 2.45 | 2.46 | 2.87 |
| 2023 | 2.36 | 2.22 | 2.22 | 2.65 | 2.84 | 2.71 | 2.74 | 2.82 | 2.74 | 2.58 | 2.47 | 2.09 | 2.54 |
| 2022 | 2.85 | 3.11 | 2.44 | 2.61 | 2.69 | 2.86 | 2.68 | 2.39 | 2.20 | 2.08 | 2.07 | 1.93 | 2.49 |
| 2021 | 1.89 | 1.79 | 1.75 | 1.90 | 2.55 | 3.18 | 2.17 | 2.41 | 2.44 | 2.31 | 2.41 | 2.17 | 2.25 |
| 2020 | 1.95 | 1.79 | 2.48 | 2.99 | 4.67 | 1.76 | 1.67 | 1.68 | 1.60 | 1.54 | 1.70 | 1.64 | 2.12 |
Each month is weighted by the pounds sold on each day. A dot is a month with no sales on record.
Its usual year Each month against its own year’s average, the median over 2020–2025
- Jan−7.5%
- Feb−12.7%
- Mar−8.1%
- Apr+1.4%
- May+9.8%
- Jun+10.3%
- Jul+7.2%
- Aug+9.1%
- Sep+5.7%
- Oct−0.7%
- Nov−8.5%
- Dec−15.9%
Day by day The last 20 days it traded
| Day | per cwt | Per lb | Pounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 29, 2026 | $3.11 | $3.11 | 270,156 |
| Oct 28, 2026 | $3.31 | $3.31 | 270,667 |
| Oct 27, 2026 | $3.21 | $3.21 | 515,494 |
| Oct 26, 2026 | $3.37 | $3.37 | 224,409 |
| Oct 23, 2026 | $3.33 | $3.33 | 126,521 |
| Oct 22, 2026 | $3.29 | $3.29 | 644,560 |
| Oct 21, 2026 | $3.45 | $3.45 | 270,713 |
| Oct 20, 2026 | $3.41 | $3.41 | 308,308 |
| Oct 19, 2026 | $3.48 | $3.48 | 194,158 |
| Oct 16, 2026 | $3.27 | $3.27 | 118,224 |
| Oct 15, 2026 | $3.37 | $3.37 | 187,253 |
| Oct 14, 2026 | $3.44 | $3.44 | 423,477 |
| Oct 13, 2026 | $3.54 | $3.54 | 134,116 |
| Oct 12, 2026 | $3.41 | $3.41 | 330,645 |
| Oct 9, 2026 | $3.48 | $3.48 | 161,778 |
| Oct 8, 2026 | $3.39 | $3.39 | 246,559 |
| Oct 7, 2026 | $3.44 | $3.44 | 288,278 |
| Oct 6, 2026 | $3.43 | $3.43 | 127,778 |
| Oct 5, 2026 | $3.39 | $3.39 | 145,089 |
| Oct 2, 2026 | $3.28 | $3.28 | 464,972 |
Every day is in the CSV downloads, with the day’s low and high and the number of trades.
About these numbers
Prices are USDA’s, from the National Daily Boxed Beef Cutout and Boxed Beef Cuts, Negotiated Sales afternoon report (LM_XB403): the weighted average of the day’s negotiated sales of boxed beef, FOB the packing plant, for delivery within 0 to 21 days, in dollars per hundredweight (100 lb). Divide by 100 for the price per pound. These are wholesale prices for whole cuts in boxes, well below what the same cut costs at a store. USDA lists this item as “Ground Beef 81%”. The latest report is for Oct 29, 2026; the next is due Fri, Oct 30, 2026.
The beef price board has every cut for today, the cutout, how the data is collected, and the whole history as CSV downloads. Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, Livestock, Poultry and Grain Market News.