Is Thanksgiving Cheaper This Year?

Outlets across the political spectrum analyzed the price of typical Thanksgiving groceries and travel expenses and compared the costs to recent years. Here's what they found:

A Julia Child Holiday: The Times (Center bias) analyzed the cost of ingredients to make chef and author Julia Child's famous Thanksgiving meal using statistics from the Agriculture Department and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. The Times found the meal, including a turkey, several sides, a dessert, and one bottle of wine, to total $107, which is 9% higher than their calculation of the same meal in 2024 costing $98.37.

Inflation Up, Thanksgiving Down: In contrast, an analysis from NPR (Lean Left) using data from the American Farm Bureau Federation found that the price of a Thanksgiving meal fell by 5% from last year, despite groceries in general being "up 2.7% for the 12 months ending in September." NPR noted that though costs may be down from 2024, grocery costs are still higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gas Prices Steady: According to Fox Business (Lean Right), the average gas price nationally will be $3.02 over the holiday, holding steady from last year's price around Thanksgiving. This is the lowest gas prices have been during the holiday since the pandemic—gas was $3.39 per gallon in 2021.

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