Ham Prices Have Fallen Since Their 2024 Peak, but Midwest City Shoppers Still Pay Nearly 40% More Than in 2019
Ham in Midwest cities hit $5.19 a pound in July 2024, its highest monthly average since 2019.
It’s come down since, but Ohioans and other Midwest shoppers still pay a lot more than they did before.
Here’s how ham prices have fallen since their 2024 peak, and how much more Midwest city shoppers still pay than in 2019.
Ham Then and Now
Ham prices in Midwest cities averaged $4.573 a pound in September 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
That’s below the July 2024 peak of $5.187.
But September 2019’s average was $3.275, so September 2026 is still $1.298 a pound higher.
That’s nearly 40% more.
If you’re pricing a ham, your store’s tag may differ, since the average blends bone-in and boneless hams but leaves out canned ham and luncheon slices.
The Math Behind Ham’s Gap
An 8-pound ham in Midwest cities would run about $26 at September 2019’s average of $3.275 a pound.
At September 2026’s $4.573 a pound, you’d pay about $37 for the same ham, roughly $10 more.
The gap shifts with the month you pick.
Ham averaged $3.328 a pound in August 2019 and $4.508 in August 2026, which is 35.5% higher.
Yearly Ham Averages
Averaging the monthly figures, ham in Midwest cities came to $3.13 a pound across all 12 months of 2019.
By 2024, the yearly average had risen to $4.87, more than 55% higher.
At those averages, you’d have paid over $1.70 extra for each pound of ham in 2024.
Each year in between was higher than the last: $3.47 in 2020, $3.72 in 2021, $4.32 in 2022 and $4.63 in 2023.
The biggest jump came in 2022, when the average rose almost 60 cents, or about 16%.
The increases ended in 2025.
If you shopped for ham in 2025, the average was $4.69, based on 11 months because the series has no value for October 2025.
That was nearly 50% above 2019’s average.
The first nine months of 2026 averaged $4.50, about 5% below the first nine months of 2025.
Against the same nine months of 2019, which averaged $3.16, that’s more than 42% higher.
Drop From the Peak
In July 2024, ham in Midwest cities reached its highest monthly average since 2019, at $5.187 a pound.
That was about 62% above July 2019’s $3.203.
August 2024 was close behind at $5.104.
Only three months in the data since 2019 topped $5 a pound, all in summer 2024.
Then the average fell about 40 cents from August to September 2024, to $4.700, the biggest one-month drop since 2019.
From September 2024 through September 2026, monthly averages ranged from $4.346 to $4.962, with no value published for October 2025.
The low, $4.346 in January 2026, is about 16% below the peak.
If you’re comparing with the peak, September 2026’s $4.573 is about 12% lower.
The average rose $1.912 a pound between September 2019 and July 2024.
Since then, the average has dropped 61 cents of that increase.
That’s about a third.
At the peak average, your 8-pound ham would have run about $41, against about $37 at September 2026’s average.
September Gap by Year
Against September 2019’s $3.275, ham in Midwest cities was about 12% higher in September 2020 and 22% higher in September 2021.
The gap reached about 39% in September 2022, when the average was $4.563, then 43% in 2023 and 44% in 2024.
In September 2025, it was about 46%.
Then the gap narrowed.
September 2026’s $4.573 is about 4% below September 2025’s $4.785, the first September drop in the data since 2019.
If you’re comparing with 2022, September 2026 is almost back to that level.
At those averages, your 8-pound ham would have run about $37 in September 2022 and about $38 in September 2025.
2026 Month by Month
In 2026 so far, March’s $4.659 is the highest monthly average for ham in Midwest cities, about 10% below the July 2024 peak.
Every month in 2026 has been lower than the same month of 2025.
The drop ranged from less than 1% in February to nearly 10% in July.
If you compare each month with the same month of 2019, only June (about 38%) and August (35.5%) came in below September’s nearly 40%.
Winter gaps are wider.
If you shopped in January, February or March, the gap was about 46%, 56% and 48%.
April’s $4.425 was about 43% above April 2019’s $3.100 and about 9% below April 2024’s $4.887.
Psst! Ready for a quick ham quiz? Give it a shot and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Ham Label IQ
Test yourself on ham labels, cures and storage. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
How long does the U.S. Department of Agriculture say a whole, uncut country ham can be stored safely at room temperature?
Holiday Ham Prices
In November 2025, ham in Midwest cities averaged $4.498 a pound, about 44% above November 2019's $3.121.
At those averages, an 8-pound ham would run about $36 in November 2025, against about $25 in November 2019.
December 2025's $4.367 was about 51% above December 2019's $2.884.
That was 13 cents below November 2025's $4.498 and about 16% below the July 2024 peak.
Both gaps are wider than September's.
That's because 2019's holiday-month averages were lower than September 2019's $3.275.
BLS doesn't seasonally adjust these averages, so seasonal swings show up in the numbers.
At that average, your 8-pound ham would have run about $35 in December 2025.
In December 2019, the same ham would have run about $23.
That's roughly $12 more.
December 2024 averaged $4.698 a pound, so December 2025's $4.367 was about 7% lower, the lowest December since 2022.
On that 8-pound ham, you'd have paid about $3 less than a year earlier.
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