Beef Price Index: 154.3
July 2026 · 2020 = 100 · derived from BLS data
- The Beef Price Index — this site's composite of the four BLS "all uncooked" retail beef aggregates — stood at 154.3 in (2020 = 100).
- That is +9.6% year over year and the highest reading on record.
- In plain terms: retail beef overall costs about 54% more than its 2020 average.
What is the Beef Price Index?
The Beef Price Index is a composite of U.S. retail beef prices computed by beefpriceindex.com from federal BLS data: the average of the four BLS "all uncooked" beef aggregates (ground beef, steaks, roasts, other beef), each indexed to its 2020 mean. It read 154.3 in July 2026.
How it is calculated
Each component series is divided by its own 2020 monthly average and multiplied by 100, and the index is the simple (unweighted) average of the four. A month missing any component — such as October 2025, when BLS suspended publication — is omitted rather than estimated. The index is not a government statistic: it is derived by this site from the BLS series below, and the arithmetic is fully reproducible from the downloadable data.
| Component | BLS series | 2020 avg | Latest $/lb | Index now |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All uncooked ground beef | APU0000FC1101 | $4.625 | $7.116 | 153.8 |
| All uncooked beef roasts | APU0000FC2101 | $6.062 | $9.571 | 157.9 |
| All uncooked beef steaks | APU0000FC3101 | $8.230 | $13.064 | 158.7 |
| All other uncooked beef and veal | APU0000FC4101 | $5.455 | $8.009 | 146.8 |
Download the index CSV · component data on the data page.