Price evolution of strawberries in the United States

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

Price evolution of strawberries

The average price of a pound of strawberries between 1981 and 2023 was $2.31, with the lowest price being $0.98 in 1981 and the highest $4.13 in 2023 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Yes, I'm sorry to say, but strawberries in the United States has never been as expensive as it is today. However, if you look at the inflation adjusted price, a pound of strawberries actually peaked in 2004 at $4.99 (in today's money).

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

Absolute price of strawberries per year

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

The absolute price of strawberries in the the United States has gone from $0.98 in 1981 to $4.13 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $3.15, or 321.43% in a period of 42 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 42 years the price of strawberries actually decreased year over year 13 times, in 1983, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a pound of strawberries was in 2009, when the price dropped by $-0.25, or -8.2%. The biggest price increase was $0.45, or 22.06% in 2001.

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

Inflation-adjusted price of strawberries 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 strawberries in the the United States, in that same 42 years period between 1981 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of strawberries actually peaked in 2004, when it cost $4.99 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 1986 when it sold for $3.18.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 1983, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-0.53 (-13.98%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of strawberries was still in 2001. However, the $0.45 jump actually felt like $0.68 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of strawberries during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $3.90, and the most current price of $4.13 is 5.9% above that average.

Conclusion

The absolute price of strawberries has increased by $1.43 ($52.96%) in the last decade, and $3.15 (321.43%) since 1981. 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 strawberries, we see that it has varied ± 23.2% over this period of time, and is currently 5.88% more expensive than the average over these years .

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, strawberries prices are still higher in 2023 than they were in 1981. Although, considering the complexity of the economy, that price increase is not huge.

We can consider that the price of strawberries has remained maily stable over this period of time. It sure had some ups and downs, like in 2001 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 strawberries in the the United States