Why are food prices so high?

Bananas, beef, coffee and seafood are all more expensive than they were last year. 

Nearly half of Americans say groceries have become harder to afford since 2024, according to a 2025 September survey from Axios and The Harris Poll.

Grocery prices were up 1.9% in November from the previous year, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data. While that’s a modest rate, grocery prices are up nearly 30% since the pandemic began. 

Grocery products	Annual price change
Bananas	+6.7%
Beef and veal	+15.8%
Coffee	+18.8%
Eggs	-13.2%
Fish and seafood	+5.2%

Data: Bureau of Labor Statistics, November 2025 Consumer Price Index report

Numerous factors have led to rising prices, including the disruption of supply chains caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, tariffs, bird flu outbreaks, adverse weather and increased consumer spending on food since the pandemic began, said David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University. 

Here’s a look at why some groceries have gotten more expensive: 

Hamburgers are pricier thanks to weather disruptions

A severe drought in 2022 and a rise in grain prices meant that ranchers couldn’t feed their cattle, so they had to sell them off. Now we have one of the lowest beef herds in about 70 years, Ortega said. 

Meanwhile, America’s appetite for beef isn’t slowing down thanks to the country’s love affair with protein.

It takes several years to increase herd sizes, and it would require taking female cows out of production, which would constrain supply even further. 

“When you add that supply issue with strong demand for beef, that's why we're seeing those record-high beef prices,” Ortega said. 

The impact of tariffs and severe weather on fruits, vegetables, coffee and seafood

The U.S. relies on trading partners for imports like fresh produce and coffee, so tariffs imposed by the Trump administration may have contributed to price increases (although Trump signed an executive order in November walking back tariffs on kitchen staples like coffee and fruits).

For example, more than 90% of the bananas sold in the U.S. are imported from other countries, and prices for the popular fruit have jumped nearly 7% year over year. 

“I would say the tariffs are showing up in that number,” Ortega said. 

Coffee prices are up almost 19% year over year, which is largely due to the effects of drought on crops in countries like Brazil and Vietnam. But Ortega said he thinks tariffs may have also pushed up prices. We import most of the coffee we consume, primarily from Brazil, and until recently, imports from Brazil faced a 50% tariff.

Fish and seafood prices are up 5.2%, while frozen seafood specifically is up 11.6%. A lot of our seafood imports are from China, Vietnam and Chile, which have been subject to higher tariffs, leading to price increases in this category, said Joseph Balagtas, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. 

Egg prices and bird flu outbreaks

Egg prices have spiked intermittently since 2022 due to the bird flu. While prices are down about 13% year over year, the average price of a dozen eggs reached $6.20 in early 2025. In March 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a carton of eggs cost just $1.50. 

“The avian influenza has repeatedly come back after the summer, and it’s being carried on migratory birds,” said Mike Persia, a professor of poultry sciences at Virginia Tech, in an interview with Marketplace early last year. “That’s what’s reintroducing it each winter.”

Will grocery prices ever go down? 

Prices levels in the economy generally go up over time, and that can actually be positive — as long as the increases are moderate, Ortega said. Deflation is a sign of a struggling economy, and if prices are falling, it means people are spending less money. Decreased consumer spending can then lead to higher unemployment. 

But in recent years, we’ve seen food inflation in the double digits, which isn’t moderate, Ortega noted. In August 2022, grocery store prices increased by 13.5%. 

There is some positive news: While prices aren’t dropping, food inflation or the rate of increase in food prices is slowing down. In November, grocery inflation stood at 1.9%. 

“That doesn't mean that food prices are coming down. It just means that they're not increasing as quickly,” Ortega said. (Note: The November CPI report comes with multiple caveats. It only captures data from the second half of November due to the government shutdown, and prices during that time period are often lower than usual thanks to holiday sales.)

But while prices go up over time, the price for specific categories of food might come down, Ortega said. Egg prices, which were impacted by the bird flu, have dropped now that the bird flu has subsided. 

And the price of beef should go down as our cattle supply recovers, Balagtas said. 

If the cost of certain food products went up due to tariffs, then removing these taxes could ease prices, said Tyler Schipper, an associate professor of economics at the University of St. Thomas, in an interview with Marketplace last year. 

However, if demand remains high even amid tariffs, companies won't see a need to lower the price. “Firms are profit-maximizing entities, and they're happy to keep their profits higher if consumers are willing to pay these higher prices,” Schipper said.

Tariff uncertainty can also affect how quickly retailers decide to lower prices. If they think the administration is going to change their tariff policies again, they might take a wait-and-see approach, Balagtas said. 

More tariff reversals may come on top of Trump’s decision to roll back tariffs on popular groceries. The Supreme Court is set to rule on whether Trump can use emergency powers to impose these taxes after hearing oral arguments in November.