Is Sugar Getting Cheaper Before the Holidays? The National Numbers Give Michiganders a Mixed Answer

You’re halfway through your holiday baking list when you notice how many cups of sugar it calls for.

Compare what that sugar costs now with what it cost in 2019, and the gap is hard to swallow.

Here’s how much more a pound of sugar costs holiday bakers in Michigan and Americans across the country than it did in 2019.

Then and Now

A pound of white sugar averaged $1.019 across U.S. cities in September 2026, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports.

That makes it a national price for sugar, not a Michigan-only one.

Your shelf tag may differ, since the average blends every package size.

The same series topped out in 2019 at 59.6 cents, a mark it hit in both March and September.

The lowest 2019 reading was 58.0 cents, in May.

That’s 42.3 cents more for a pound, or about 71% more.

Same pound, higher price.

Pick any month of 2019 as your starting line, and the gap is about 71% or more.

Cost by the Cup

A pound of granulated sugar equals 2 1/4 cups, a conversion Utah State University Extension lists.

At the September 2026 average, that works out to about 45 cents a cup.

In September 2019, the same cup came to about 26 cents.

That’s 19 cents more.

Say your holiday baking runs through ten cups of sugar, from cookie batches to a pan of fudge.

Ten cups is about 4.4 pounds.

At the 2026 average, those 4.4 pounds cost roughly $4.50, compared with roughly $2.60 at the 2019 average.

A single cookie recipe that calls for two cups of sugar uses about 91 cents of it at the 2026 average, compared with about 53 cents at the 2019 average.

Those are averages, so your receipt may come in higher or lower.

Peak and Pullback

Sugar didn't rise in a straight line after 2019.

Sugar averaged 63.0 cents in September 2020 and 68.8 cents in September 2021, small steps from where it started.

The steepest September-to-September climb ran from September 2021 to September 2022.

In that year, the national average for a pound of white sugar rose to 83.7 cents, a 21.7% increase.

By September 2023, it had reached 97.1 cents, about 63% above September 2019.

The average first topped $1 in April 2024, at $1.006.

It peaked at $1.054 in May and June 2025.

Measured against September 2019, that peak was about 77% higher.

Then the average eased.

If you compare September 2026's $1.019 with that peak, it sits about 3% under, and 2.2% under September 2025's $1.042.

Waiting for your sugar bill to fall back toward 2019 levels?

The pullback hasn't come close.

No reported month since April 2024 has averaged below 98 cents.

Last Year's Holiday Prices

Sugar cost less last holiday season than it does now.

The national average for a pound of white sugar was 99.1 cents in November 2025.

December was lower.

It came in at 98.5 cents.

If you're pricing a bag for this year's baking, September 2026's $1.019 average is roughly 3% above both.

Both holiday readings were about 5% below September 2025's $1.042.

If you're comparing with 2019, November and December that year each averaged 58.9 cents.

That put last year's holiday months about 67% to 68% higher.

Against the Grocery Bill

White sugar's price has risen faster than grocery prices overall since 2019.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for groceries, which BLS labels food at home, rose 33% between September 2019 and September 2026.

Its sugar and sweets category rose about 45% over the same stretch.

White sugar beat both.

BLS cautions that average prices suit measuring one month's price level, not change over time.

If you want a steadier read on change, the index figures above are the better guide, though they cover broader categories than white sugar.

If you follow both numbers, they moved in opposite directions from September 2025 to September 2026.

White sugar's average price fell 2.2% from September 2025, while the sugar and sweets index rose 5.5% and the grocery index rose 1.8%.

Michigan's Beet Fields

Michigan Sugar Company says its 865 grower-owners plant and harvest about 140,000 acres of sugarbeets a year in about 20 Michigan counties and Ontario.

Its growers formed a cooperative that bought the company from Imperial Sugar in 2002.

The company says its combined factories can slice 22,000 tons of beets a day.

The Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service (ERS) lists Michigan among 11 states that grow sugar beets.

Michigan ranked fourth in sugar beet planted area in 2025, behind Minnesota, North Dakota and Idaho, according to USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Since the mid-2000s, beets have accounted for between 55 and 60 percent of the sugar the country produces, and cane has made up the rest.

BLS's table of Midwest prices leaves the sugar row blank, so you won't find a regional figure there.

The 71% stays national.

The series covers loose, granulated white sugar and excludes brown sugar, so if you bake with brown sugar, its price isn't in the 71%.