Price evolution of orange juice in the United States

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

orange juice 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 16 ounces of orange juice, 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.

Price evolution of orange juice

The average price of 16 ounces of orange juice between 1980 and 2023 was $2.05, with the lowest price being $1.18 in 1980 and the highest $2.89 in 2023 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Yes, I'm sorry to say, but orange juice in the United States has never been as expensive as it is today. However, if you look at the inflation adjusted price, 16 ounces of orange juice actually peaked in 1990 at $5.34 (in today's money).

Let's take a closer look at the data in the tables below:

Absolute price of orange juice per year

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

The absolute price of orange juice in the the United States has gone from $1.18 in 1980 to $2.89 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $1.71, or 144.92% 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 orange juice actually decreased year over year 15 times, in 1983, 1986, 1987, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2005, 2010, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of 16 ounces of orange juice was in 1991, when the price dropped by $-0.31, or -14.42%. The biggest price increase was $0.53, or 26.9% in 2007.

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

Inflation-adjusted price of orange juice 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 orange juice 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 orange juice actually peaked in 1990, when it cost $5.34 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2020 when it sold for $2.81.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 1991, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-1 (-18.73%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of orange juice was still in 2007. However, the $0.53 jump actually felt like $0.71 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of orange juice during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $3.77, and the most current price of $2.89 is 23.34% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

The absolute price of orange juice has increased by $0.38 ($15.14%) in the last decade, and $1.71 (144.92%) 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 orange juice, we see that it has varied ± 33.58% over this period of time, and is currently 23.29% cheaper than the average over these years.

So not everything is bad news after all!

Even at $2.89 (per 16.00 ounces), orange juice 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 orange juice today than in the past.

FAQs about the price of orange juice in the the United States