Price evolution of Potato chips in the United States

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

Potato chips 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 Potato chips, 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 Potato chips

The average price of 16 ounces of Potato chips between 1980 and 2023 was $3.63, with the lowest price being $2.04 in 1980 and the highest $6.53 in 2023 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Yes, I'm sorry to say, but Potato chips 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 Potato chips actually peaked in 1980 at $8.66 (in today's money).

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

Absolute price of Potato chips per year

Our data source for this article was: US Bureau of Labor Statistics .

The absolute price of Potato chips in the the United States has gone from $2.04 in 1980 to $6.53 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $4.49, or 220.1% 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 Potato chips actually decreased year over year 9 times, in 1988, 1992, 1993, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2013, 2014, 2017.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of 16 ounces of Potato chips was in 2013, when the price dropped by $-0.33, or -6.61%. The biggest price increase was $0.75, or 14.76% in 2022.

With the price increasing most years, it comes as no surprise that the price of Potato chips today is higher than what it used to be some years ago.

Inflation-adjusted price of Potato chips 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 Potato chips 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 Potato chips actually peaked in 1980, when it cost $8.66 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2007 when it sold for $5.39.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 1988, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-0.63 (-8.15%). The biggest spike in adjusted price was in 2008 when it jumped by $0.58 (10.76%).

The average price of Potato chips during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $6.55, and the most current price of $6.53 is 0.31% below that average. Enjoy it while it lasts!

Conclusion

The absolute price of Potato chips has increased by $1.87 ($40.13%) in the last decade, and $4.49 (220.1%) 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 Potato chips, we see that it has varied ± 24.95% over this period of time, and is currently 0.35% cheaper than the average over these years.

So not everything is bad news after all!

Even at $6.53 (per 16.00 ounces), Potato chips 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 Potato chips today than in the past.

We can consider that the price of Potato chips has remained maily stable over this period of time. It sure had some ups and downs, like in 2022 and 2013, but considering the magnitude and complexity of the global economy its price has mainly kept up with inflation.

FAQs about the price of Potato chips in the the United States