With US beef prices at record highs, America’s protein craze is still driving consumption
Beef has become increasingly unaffordable for Americans, who seem to be buying more of it than ever.
From burgers to jerky, Mondale to Hart, beef has long been ingrained in American culture, and today’s era of “boy kibble” and “protein-maxxing” comes as no exception.
However, even as prices have cooled for other inflation-jacked groceries, the cost of beef has never been higher than in recent months. Per the latest federal data, the average price of all uncooked ground beef in the US was $6.86 per pound in March, which is about $0.03 lower than the all-time high reported in February and up 48% over the last five years.
Several factors are at play behind the beefed up prices. For one, America’s cattle inventories currently hover around a 75-year low, with the Department of Agriculture reporting that there were just 86.2 million cattle and calves in the US as of January 1 — relatively unchanged from 2025’s figure, but marking a ~7.4 million reduction in herd size since 2021.
When compared with the human population in the US, the nation’s ratio of people to cattle has effectively doubled from 1980 (when cattle headcount was ~111.2 million) to 4-to-1 at the start of 2026. This is especially striking considering that US population growth has been slowing in recent years.
Part of the reason for the shift, as outlined by the Associated Press, is that more meat per cow is now harvestable, thanks to changes in genetics and feeding techniques. But cattle farmers have also pointed to historically dry conditions, mounting fertilizer and equipment costs, and consolidation among meat processors as factors in the prolonged contraction of the national herd.
Raise the steaks
Despite US beef prices sitting around record highs, demand for red meat is soaring. Data from Beef Research cited by Fox News found that US shoppers spent over $45 billion on ~6.2 billion pounds of beef in 2025; while spending was up 12% from the year prior, the amount of actual meat that was sold only rose 4%.
With the FDA’s push for red meat consumption, both directly and through by-products like beef tallow, the emphasis on getting more protein into our diets seems to be causing Americans to pile more meat onto their plates, further cementing the US’s position as a nation that already consumes more meat and fish than almost any other country on Earth.
