As warmer weather arrives, many Americans are dusting off the backyard grill and preparing for another season of outdoor cooking and entertaining. At the Center for Food Demand Analysis (CFDAS), we are marking the occasion by launching our new interactive National Cost of a Cheeseburger Dashboard, using price data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to track the cost of one of America’s favorite meals.

Using the latest grocery price data from the BLS, we’ve calculated the cost of assembling a standard cheeseburger at home in April 2025. Our most recent estimate, using BLS data from April, comes to $2.47 per burger. Here’s how that breaks down:

• One hamburger bun: $0.34
• One ounce of iceberg lettuce: $0.09
• Two ounces of tomato: $0.22
• One ounce of cheese: $0.36
• Quarter pound of ground beef: $1.45

Several factors influence the current cheeseburger cost structure:

1. Beef prices remain the primary driver of overall cheeseburger costs. The quarter pound of ground beef accounts for nearly 60% of the total expense, making your burger particularly sensitive to changes in meat production. When looking at our dashboards “Cost of Cheeseburger Ingredients” tab, one can see that the total cost of a cheeseburger follows nearly the same trends as the price of ground beef.
2. Cheese prices ($0.36 per ounce) represent the second-highest cost component. Dairy markets continue to show more stability than meat markets in early 2025.
3. Seasonal produce effects are evident in the relatively low costs for lettuce ($0.09) and tomato ($0.22), which typically become more affordable as spring progresses into summer and local production increases.

In addition to accounting for the biggest share of the cost of a cheeseburger, beef also has been the dominant factor affecting changes in the cost of a homemade cheeseburger since we began tracking this data (May 2023). Prices of other ingredients have been more stable.

Our new National Cost of a Cheeseburger Dashboard features both nominal and inflation-adjusted cheeseburger costs. Inflation erodes how much we can buy with a given amount of money. Our inflation-adjusted series shows how the costs have changed over time while controlling for inflation. Our inflation-adjusted cheeseburger cost data shows relatively stable cheeseburger prices since we began tracking this data in May 2023.

The cost of assembling a homemade cheeseburger has seen subtle changes since our last analysis late last summer, when the nominal cost of a cheeseburger was $2.39 in July 2024. This modest increase aligns with broader economic indicators, as food inflation has continued to moderate compared to the significant price jumps we saw in 2021-2023.

The inflation-adjusted cost of a cheeseburger has risen from $2.39 in April 2024 to $2.47 in April 2025 (in April 2025 US dollars). That is to say, the cost of ingredients for building a cheeseburger at home has risen 3% faster than inflation. The main driver of higher burger costs is the higher price of ground beef, which has risen by 8% in real terms over the same period.

Figure 2. Inflation-Adjusted Cost of a Cheeseburger in April 2025 Dollars

This dashboard represents our commitment to making economic data more accessible and relevant to everyday decisions. It allows consumers and industry professionals to track monthly changes in burger costs based on official BLS data. The dashboard also provides both nominal and inflation-adjusted pricing to help users understand food costs in the context of broader economic trends. 

By tracking something as tangible as a cheeseburger, we hope to provide insights into food systems, supply chains and household economics in a format that resonates with everyone who shops for groceries. 

Visit the National Cost of a Cheeseburger Dashboard to explore the data yourself and gain insights into the economics behind one of America’s favorite meals.  

Do you have other data or insights you would like to see? Contact us at cfdas@purdue.edu for more information on what we can offer.