As Americans fire up their backyard grills, the cost of a home-cooked cheeseburger reached $2.50 in May 2025, according to data from the Center for Food Demand Analysis & Sustainability’s National Cost of a Cheeseburger Dashboard, which tracks national cheeseburger costs using Bureau of Labor Statistics data. That represents an 7.8-percent increase from $2.32 in May 2024, or a 5.0-percent when adjusted for inflation. Ground beef remains the largest cost component at $1.50 per burger, followed by cheese at $0.37, bread at $0.33, tomato at $0.21, and lettuce at $0.09. Higher costs are driven largely by higher costs of beef. Higher beef prices reflect low cattle production and high cattle prices, and growing demand for beef. Our dashboard tracks the cost of America’s backyard barbecue staple and is an indicator of the performance of American ag-food supply chains.
July 3, 2025