Price evolution of Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes
2. Price evolution of Kellogg's Corn Flakes
   1. Absolute price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about Kellogg's Corn Flakes's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

Developed by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, Kellogg's Corn Flakes were first introduced in the United States in 1906.

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was a physician who was interested in promoting healthy eating habits as a way to prevent disease.

Corn Flakes helped to popularize breakfast cereals as a convenient and easy-to-prepare meal option, which had previously been a relatively niche market. The success of Kellogg's Corn Flakes inspired many other companies to develop their own breakfast cereals, leading to the growth of a multi-billion dollar industry.

Corn Flakes were marketed as a healthy breakfast option. Today we are more conscious about the things we eat and how they might affect us, but in the early 20th century that certainly wasn't the case, and Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was amongst the first to try con raise awareness about the importance of healthy eating habits.

Having been on the shelves for over a century, Kellogg’s Cor Flakes have become an icon in American food culture.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes is one of those products that usually commes packaged in a container, such as a box, bottle or jar. Within the context of this article, the prices we share correspond to 18 ounces of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, since that is a common size you'll find it in. If the sources we use provided prices in different sizes, we have worked that data to match our standard size and provide a consistent comparison.

Before moving on, it is also important to highight dat our data set of prices for Kellogg's Corn Flakes has some gaps. From the 54 year period we will be looking at between 1960 and 2014 there are 11 years we do not have data for. These years are 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010. So please keep that in mind moving forward.

Price evolution of Kellogg's Corn Flakes

The average price of 18 ounces of Kellogg's Corn Flakes between 1960 and 2014 was $1.61, with the lowest price being $0.27 in 1960 and the highest $5.69 in 2011 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes per year

Our data source for this article was: foodtimeline .

The absolute price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the the United States has gone from $0.27 in 1960 to $4.19 in 2014. That's an absolute increase of $3.92, or 1451.85% in a period of 54 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 54 years the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes actually decreased year over year 17 times, in 1962, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2014.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of 18 ounces of Kellogg's Corn Flakes was in 2005, when the price dropped by $-4.49, or -100%. The biggest price increase was $1.60, or 115.11% in 1987.

So yes, it's had its ups and downs, but overall, price increases outweight the deceases, making Kellogg's Corn Flakes pricier than it used to be.

Inflation-adjusted price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the the United States, in that same 54 years period between 1960 and 2014, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes actually peaked in 1987, when it cost $6.46 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 1984 when it sold for $2.12.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2005, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-5.78 (-100%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of Kellogg's Corn Flakes was still in 1987. However, the $1.60 jump actually felt like $3.40 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $3.39, and the most current price of $4.19 is 23.6% above that average.

Conclusion

While the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes has increased by $3.92 (1451.85%) since 1960, it has actually been selling for cheaper during the last decade, with a drop of $-0.30 ($-6.68%) since 2004.

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes, we see that it has varied ± 95.15% over this period of time, and is currently 23.43% more expensive than the average over these years .

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, Kellogg's Corn Flakes prices are still higher in 2014 than they were in 1960. And not just a bit more expensive, we are talking about a significant increase no matter how you look at it!

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make a bigger economic effort to purchase Kellogg's Corn Flakes today than in the past.

FAQs about the price of Kellogg's Corn Flakes in the the United States