How much of the beef price goes to ranchers?

About 51% of the retail value of Choice beef was net farm value in July 2026, per USDA ERS price-spread data — the rest is packing, distribution and retail.

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Who gets the beef dollar? The farmer's share: 51%

Choice beef farm-to-retail spreads, July 2026

Of every retail dollar spent on Choice beef, ranchers received about 51 cents in July 2026, per USDA Economic Research Service price-spread data.
Choice beef retailed at $10.49/lb while the net farm value was $5.36/lb of retail equivalent.
The all-fresh retail beef value was $9.753/lb in July 2026.

Choice beef: retail value vs wholesale value vs net farm value, cents per pound of retail equivalent. Source: USDA ERS meat price spreads.

The farmer's share since 1970

Net farm value as a share of the Choice beef retail value, monthly, 1970-present. Source: USDA ERS.

Free to reuse with credit — please link to beefpriceindex.com.

Who gets the money from a pound of beef?

In July 2026, roughly 51% of the retail price of Choice beef went to the cattle producer (net farm value); the rest covered packing, processing, distribution and retailing, per USDA ERS.

USDA ERS decomposes the retail price of Choice beef into the net farm value (what the cattle were worth), the wholesale value (the carcass at the packer door — tracked daily on our cutout page), and the spreads in between. The farmer's share rises when cattle are scarce — as in the current cycle — and falls when packing and retail margins widen.

Source: USDA Economic Research Service, meat price spreads (monthly, 1970-present). Values are cents per pound of retail-equivalent beef. Download CSV.