Price evolution of lemons in the United States

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

Price evolution of lemons

The average price of a pound of lemons between 1980 and 2023 was $1.40, with the lowest price being $0.70 in 1980 and the highest $2.25 in 2018 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Absolute price of lemons per year

Our data source for this article was: Federal Reserve Economic Data .

The absolute price of lemons in the the United States has gone from $0.70 in 1980 to $2.10 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $1.40, or 200% in a period of 43 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 43 years the price of lemons actually decreased year over year 16 times, in 1983, 1986, 1992, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a pound of lemons was in 2009, when the price dropped by $-0.49, or -24.38%. The biggest price increase was $0.39, or 24.68% in 2014.

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

Inflation-adjusted price of lemons 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 lemons in the the United States, in that same 43 years period between 1980 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of lemons actually peaked in 2008, when it cost $2.99 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2004 when it sold for $2.08.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2009, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-0.82 (-27.42%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of lemons was still in 2014. However, the $0.39 jump actually felt like $0.48 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of lemons during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $2.46, and the most current price of $2.10 is 14.63% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

The absolute price of lemons has increased by $0.52 ($32.91%) in the last decade, and $1.40 (200%) since 1980. But that comes as no surprise, as prices always tend to increase over time due to inflation.

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 lemons, we see that it has varied ± 18.49% over this period of time, and is currently 14.67% cheaper than the average over these years.

So not everything is bad news after all!

Even at $2.10 (per pound), lemons is actually more afordable in 2023 than it was in 1980.

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make less of an economic effort to purchase lemons today than in the past.

We can consider that the price of lemons has remained maily stable over this period of time. It sure had some ups and downs, like in 2014 and 2009, but considering the magnitude and complexity of the global economy its price has mainly kept up with inflation.

FAQs about the price of lemons in the the United States