This year, the Farm Bureau found that serving a traditional feast for 10 people will set you back about $61.17, down 4.5 percent from last year

Brett Davis
The Center Square Washington

Washingtonians will be paying a little less for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner than they did last year, according to the American Farm Bureau’s 38th annual cost survey of traditional holiday eats.

This year, the Farm Bureau found that serving a traditional feast for 10 people will set you back about $61.17, a 4.5% decrease over last year’s record-setting price of $64.05. While a drop, that price is still 25% higher than the price the Farm Bureau projected for a Thanksgiving meal in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing high inflation, supply chain snafus and recession fears.

The Farm Bureau found the average price of a 16-pound turkey, the centerpiece of Thanksgiving dinner, was about $27.35, or $1.71 per pound. Last year’s bird cost $28.96, or about $1.81 per pound, a 21% price hike compared to 2021.

This year’s turkey price is down 5.6% from 2022.

Last year, only fresh cranberries dropped in price from the year prior. This year, eight of the categories reviewed will cost less: turkey, stuffing, pie crusts, whipping cream, frozen peas, whole milk, cranberries and miscellaneous ingredients.

“While shoppers will see a slight improvement in the cost of a Thanksgiving dinner, high inflation continues to hammer families across the country, including the nation’s farmers,” said Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall in a news release. “Growing the food families rely on is a constant challenge for farmers because of high fuel, seed, fertilizer and transportation costs, just to name a few.”

The Farm Bureau’s survey revealed that the Western region of the country would pay the second-highest amount for Thanksgiving dinner at $63.89, just behind the Northeast region’s $64.38.

Two surveys looking at holiday meal prices in Washington produced mixed results.

Informational website FinanceBuzz examined turkey prices from grocery stores across the country to determine the average cost of a bird in each state. The average price of a gobbler in America is $35.40, the company determined. That’s an average of $2.36 per pound.

Washingtonians, however, can expect to pay less than that – $33.85 – for a bird, according to FinanceBuzz.

Personal finance website MoneyGeek focused on metro areas in its holiday food inflation analysis, finding Seattle is the most expensive city in the country for a Thanksgiving meal.

MoneyGeek estimated shoppers in the Seattle area will have to shell out nearly $176 for a 10-pound turkey, side dishes, and drinks like beer and wine.

Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro metro area in Oregon and Washington are the second and third most expensive locations – $160.36 and $159.84, respectively – in the U.S. for a turkey dinner and all the fixings.

This report was first published by The Center Square Washington.