According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the average cost for Thanksgiving dinner this year is $55.18.
That's down 5% from last year ($58.08), but still higher than four years ago. The decrease actually continues a trend.
Larry Behrens of Power the Future attributes the decrease to the drop in gasoline prices.
"The cost of gasoline is cheaper this month so far than it's been over the last four years," says Behrens. "That means that for everything that energy touches, which is literally anything that goes into our grocery store, that cost is down as well."
According to AAA, the national average for gasoline is $3.09 per gallon.
Pointing to data from 2021 through 2024, Behrens says the average cost for gasoline in November was $3.47 per gallon.
When we see "the abundance of American energy," Behrens says we see costs go down.
"Now, I'm not saying that they could not go down further, they absolutely should go down further, but the drop in Thanksgiving dinner prices is reflected in the drop of energy prices, and so, if it's less money to drive on the roads, it also means less money to put food on the table," says Behrens. "That's good for every American family."
Though this is the third-straight annual decline, consumers have not fully recovered from the sharp increases that pushed the classic dinner to a record high in 2022, AFBF says. These consumer savings come as many farmers enter 2026 facing a poor farm economy marked by falling crop prices, persistently high input costs, and lingering weather and disaster losses.
Graphic by American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF).
