Bacon Is Cheaper Across the South, a Possible Break for Alabamians
It’s not common to hear about grocery prices going down these days.
But bacon has gotten a little cheaper across the South, giving bacon lovers in Alabama a bit of a break.
Here’s what the drop could add up to over a year.
Where the Bacon Price Comes From
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the government’s price tracker.
It publishes an average price for sliced bacon in the South, and the August 2026 figure was $6.095 a pound.
That was the lowest reading since February 2024, when it was $6.034.
BLS says average prices are estimates of what consumers pay.
It builds them from the retail prices it collects.
Its South is 16 states plus the District of Columbia, with Alabama among them.
Alabama’s neighbors Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee are in it too.
Prices are listed per pound, which is given as 453.6 grams.
39-Cent Gap
The South’s average for sliced bacon was $6.488 a pound in August 2025.
By August 2026, it was $6.095.
Rounded to the cent, that’s $6.49 against $6.10. That’s 39 cents less a pound, or about 6%.
How the Bacon Gap Is Calculated
BLS publishes bacon prices to three decimals, so the gap uses the unrounded figures. $6.488 minus $6.095 is $0.393.
Divide $0.393 by $6.488 and you get 6.06%. That’s about 6%.
Month by Month
January 2026 had the highest average of the first eight months, at $6.585.
It fell to $6.419 in February, $6.286 in March and $6.129 in April.
Then it rose to $6.163 in May and $6.218 in June. After that, it fell to $6.183 in July and $6.095 in August.
Line up March through August, and every month was cheaper than the same month in 2025.
The gaps were 28 cents in March, 32 in April, 30 in May, 37 in June, 22 in July and 39 in August.
August’s gap was the widest of the six.
July’s was the narrowest.
August’s $6.095 was the lowest of the first eight months of 2026.
Two Pounds a Month
Say you buy two pounds of bacon a month at the South’s average price.
A 39-cent difference per pound is 78 cents a month, or $9.36 over 12 months.
At August 2026’s average, that $9.36 buys about a pound and a half of bacon.
Buy one pound a month, and the 39 cents adds up to $4.68 over 12 months.
Buy four pounds a month, and it’s $1.56 a month, or $18.72 over 12 months.
Other Regions
Compare BLS’s four regions, and bacon was cheapest in the South in August 2026.
The Midwest’s average that month was $6.385 a pound, 29 cents above the South’s.
The Northeast’s average was $7.542, the highest of the four.
That’s $1.45 above the South’s.
The West’s was $6.921.
The national city average was $6.605, so the West was 32 cents above it.
Every region’s average was lower than in August 2025.
The Midwest fell 12% from $7.254.
The Northeast fell 10% from $8.365 and the West fell 9% from $7.616.
The national figure fell 8% from $7.208.
The South’s 6% drop was the smallest of them all.
A year earlier, the South’s average was 72 cents under the national figure.
In August 2026, that gap was 51 cents.
So the South is still the cheapest region for bacon, but by less than before.
What the Average Measures
Average prices are estimates of the average price paid by the consumer.
They are not estimates of price change.
The Consumer Price Index measures price change.
Average prices give price levels.
So the 39-cent gap is the difference between two monthly averages, not a measure of price change.
BLS publishes average prices for the four major regions when its sample is big enough.
The South is one of the four.
Average prices aren’t seasonally adjusted, and this series covers urban areas in the South.
Average prices also reflect differences in brand, quality and size among areas.
So the series describes a region, not the price tag at your store.
Psst! How much do you know about bacon and the hogs behind it? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Hog and Bacon Trivia
Answer these questions on bacon, hogs and the pork business. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
On Sept. 1, 2026, roughly what share of all U.S. hogs and pigs lived in Iowa?
Longer Price History
If you want the long view, the series starts in January 1980, when sliced bacon in the South averaged $1.347 a pound.
By August 1980, it was $1.441.
The series' highest reading is $7.218, in October 2021.
August 2026's $6.095 was about 16% below the October 2021 peak.
It was 32 cents above August 2019, when the average was $5.777.
From June 2023 to October 2023, the South's average rose from $5.420 to $6.834.
Past Augusts
Sliced bacon in the South was cheaper than the previous August in 21 of the 46 Augusts from 1981 through 2026.
The 21 included 2012, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2026.
The August averages were $7.059 in 2021, $6.772 in 2022, $6.052 in 2023, $6.469 in 2024, $6.488 in 2025 and $6.095 in 2026.
From August 2023 to August 2024, the average rose 42 cents.
The second-largest August-to-August drop in dollars came in 2023, when the average fell 72 cents, from $6.772 to $6.052.
The largest came in 2018.
That year, the South's average fell 95 cents, from $6.745 in August 2017 to $5.798 in August 2018.
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