Table 1. Comparison of average retail prices for selected meat cuts from BLS and supermarket scanner data, most recent month      Next update
suspended
Most recent month Aug, 2005
Item1 Feature-
weighted price
($/lb)2
BLS price
($/lb)3
Beef prices
Ground chuck $2.21 $2.50
Ground beef, 100-percent beef $2.17 $2.42
Lean and extra lean ground beef $3.05 $2.91
--All uncooked ground beef $2.51 $2.72
Chuck roast, USDA Choice, boneless $2.43 $3.13
Chuck roast, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime $2.27 $3.03
Round roast, USDA Choice, boneless $2.63 $3.63
Round roast, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime $2.90 $3.76
--All uncooked beef roasts $2.74 $3.62
Steak, T-bone, USDA Choice, bone-in $6.93 N/A
Steak, rib eye, USDA Choice, boneless $8.09 N/A
Steak, round, USDA choice $2.63 $4.00
Steak, round, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime $2.62 $3.81
Steak, sirloin, USDA Choice, boneless $4.84 $5.81
Steak, sirloin, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime $4.39 $5.21
--All uncooked beef steaks $4.77 $4.99
Beef for stew, boneless $3.39 N/A
All uncooked other beef not veal $3.87 $2.74
Pork prices
Bacon, sliced4 $2.60 $3.44
Chops, center cut, bone-in $2.66 $3.43
Chops, boneless $3.34 $3.77
--All pork chops $2.79 $3.28
Ham, boneless not canned $2.89 $3.02
--All ham (not canned or sliced) $2.28 $2.30
Sausage, fresh, loose4 $2.51 N/A
All other pork excluding canned and sliced $2.22 $2.08
Poultry prices
Chicken, fresh whole $0.89 $1.04
Chicken, breast, bone-in $1.49 N/A
Chicken, legs, bone-in $1.14 $1.32
Turkey, frozen whole $1.19 $1.06
 
 
For more information, contact: Erica Rosa, phone: 720-544-2941
 N/A = Not available. Occasionally, BLS is unable to find an adequate number of observations of a particular item's price to ensure statistical reliability.
1Random-weight items only.
2Average monthly price, weighted by sales volume, and accounting for featuring (discounts given to customers from regular shelf price). Compiled for USDA-ERS from retail supermarket scanner data.
3Prices reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
4Random-weight items only; does not include prepackaged items.