You'll Never Guess How Much Ground Beef Cost At The Grocery Store In 2000

It's no secret that many grocery items are getting more expensive. In addition to breakfast basics like eggs and coffee, one of the hardest hit items is the meaty staple ingredient of hamburgers, chili, and the country's best Sloppy Joe sandwiches – ground beef. However, while ground beef prices these days will likely make you do a double-take, you might be even more surprised by how much Americans paid for ground beef a quarter of a century ago.

In January 2000, fresh regular 100% ground beef cost an average of $1.48 per pound, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. By December of that same year, ground beef prices had slightly increased to about $1.625 per pound. Adjusted for inflation, this means ground beef cost about $2.85 per pound in January 2000, and just over three bucks per pound in December 2000. As of September 2025, Americans shell out an average of $6.32 for a pound of ground beef at the grocery store. In other words, even accounting for inflation, ground beef prices have more than doubled since 2000 (perhaps explaining why no one makes these old-school ground beef dishes anymore).

The price of ground beef (which is not the same as ground chuck) has been soaring in recent years thanks to a range of economic, political, and environmental factors. One of the biggest problems is a lack of supply –- the U.S. beef cattle herd hit a 75-year low in September 2025. The cattle herd has been steadily shrinking due to drought and high feed costs, among other factors. This means that America is producing less beef, but demand for the meaty staple has remained relatively steady, driving prices up. Adding insult to injury, tariffs have made imports of ground beef from other markets more expensive, thus — you guessed it — pushing prices even higher (and unfortunately, Trump's latest beef tariff policy likely won't help).

The increase in ground beef prices in the last quarter-century is pretty shocking, but it's worth noting that beef prices were actually at a relatively low point in 2000. In January 1984, when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics first published data, ground beef cost $1.29 per pound -– that's $4.11 per pound adjusted for inflation. Still, if you (understandably) can't stomach paying over six bucks for a pound of ground beef, consider shopping for these old-school grocery items that are making a comeback thanks to inflation.