sugar cutout

Price evolution of sugar in the United States

Category >
Foods & Beverages
  1. Relevance of the price of sugar
  2. Price evolution of sugar
    1. Absolute price of sugar per year
    2. Inflation adjusted price of sugar per year
  3. Conclusion
  4. FAQs about sugar's price in the the United States
  5. Price evolution table and full chart
Historical pricing of sugar in the the United States

Price evolution of sugar

The average price of a pound of sugar between 1980 and 2023 was $0.50, with the lowest price being $0.43 in 1980 and the highest $1.04 in 2023 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Yes, I'm sorry to say, but sugar in the United States has never been as expensive as it is today. And that's not all. I promise I'm not trying to depress you here, but in 2023 sugar also saw they biggest price increase since we have data, jumping $0.26, or 33.33% from the previous year. Let's see how the price evolves from here. Hopefully, it will have reached a peak and will estabilize, or even decrease, in the next few years.

However, if you look at the inflation adjusted price, a pound of sugar actually peaked in 1980 at $1.83 (in today's money).

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

Absolute price of sugar per year

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

The absolute price of sugar in the the United States has gone from $0.43 in 1980 to $1.04 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $0.61, or 141.86% 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 sugar actually decreased year over year 12 times, in 1981, 1982, 1985, 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a pound of sugar was in 1982, when the price dropped by $-0.05, or -12.5%. The biggest price increase was $0.26, or 33.33% in 2023.

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

Inflation-adjusted price of sugar 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 sugar 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 sugar actually peaked in 1980, when it cost $1.83 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2019 when it sold for $0.72.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 1981, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-0.33 (-18.03%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of sugar was still in 2023. However, the $0.26 jump actually felt like $0.20 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of sugar during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $0.92, and the most current price of $1.04 is 13.04% above that average.

Conclusion

The absolute price of sugar has increased by $0.40 ($62.50%) in the last decade, and $0.61 (141.86%) 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 sugar, we see that it has varied ± 60.33% over this period of time, and is currently 13.04% more expensive than the average over these years , yet 71.15% cheaper than in 1980! .

So not everything is bad news after all!

Even at $1.04 (per pound), sugar 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 sugar today than in the past.

That being said, the current price of sugar might be somehow close to what it was in 1980 (in today's money, of course), but it has had so much volatily over the years that it's really hard to predict how it might evolve from here.

FAQs about the price of sugar in the the United States

The most expensive sugar has ever been was in 2023, when it would cost $1.04.

However, if we adjust for inflation, sugar was the most expensive in 1980, when it would cost $1.83 in today's money

(at least within the timeframe we have data for)

The cheapest sugar has ever been was in 1980, when it would cost $0.43.

However, if we adjust for inflation, sugar was the cheapest in 2019, when it would cost $0.72 in today's money

(at least within the timeframe we have data for)

The average price of a pound of sugar in the 1980s was $0.37, with the highest being $0.43 in 1980 and the lowest $0.35 in 1982.

The average price of a pound of sugar in the 1990s was $0.42, with the highest being $0.43 in 1990 and the lowest $0.40 in 1994.

The average price of a pound of sugar in the 2000s was $0.47, with the highest being $0.57 in 2009 and the lowest $0.42 in 2000.

The average price of a pound of sugar in the 2010s was $0.64, with the highest being $0.69 in 2012 and the lowest $0.59 in 2019.

Evolution of the price of sugar charts and table

Below you'll find the raw data of absolute and inflation adjusted prices of sugar in the the United States

The average price of a pound of sugar in
2023
was
$1.04
or
$1.09
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2022
was
$0.78
or
$0.89
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2021
was
$0.68
or
$0.81
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2020
was
$0.63
or
$0.76
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2019
was
$0.59
or
$0.72
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2018
was
$0.62
or
$0.78
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2017
was
$0.65
or
$0.83
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2016
was
$0.64
or
$0.83
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2015
was
$0.65
or
$0.85
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2014
was
$0.61
or
$0.81
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2013
was
$0.64
or
$0.86
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2012
was
$0.69
or
$0.94
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2011
was
$0.68
or
$0.96
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2010
was
$0.63
or
$0.90
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2009
was
$0.57
or
$0.82
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2008
was
$0.53
or
$0.79
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2007
was
$0.52
or
$0.79
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2006
was
$0.50
or
$0.79
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2005
was
$0.44
or
$0.72
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2004
was
$0.43
or
$0.72
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2003
was
$0.43
or
$0.74
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2002
was
$0.43
or
$0.75
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2001
was
$0.43
or
$0.77
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
2000
was
$0.42
or
$0.78
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1999
was
$0.43
or
$0.81
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1998
was
$0.43
or
$0.83
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1997
was
$0.43
or
$0.84
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1996
was
$0.42
or
$0.85
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1995
was
$0.40
or
$0.83
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1994
was
$0.40
or
$0.85
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1993
was
$0.41
or
$0.90
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1992
was
$0.42
or
$0.95
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1991
was
$0.43
or
$1.01
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1990
was
$0.43
or
$1.07
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1989
was
$0.40
or
$1.04
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1988
was
$0.37
or
$1
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1987
was
$0.35
or
$0.98
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1986
was
$0.35
or
$1
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1985
was
$0.35
or
$1.04
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1984
was
$0.36
or
$1.11
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1983
was
$0.36
or
$1.15
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1982
was
$0.35
or
$1.19
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1981
was
$0.40
or
$1.50
in today's money
The average price of a pound of sugar in
1980
was
$0.43
or
$1.83
in today's money