Thanksgiving dinner will be less expensive this year: Tracking inflation in New York

Going for seconds this Thanksgiving won’t be so painful – for your wallet.

A Thanksgiving meal of twelve classic items for 10 people will cost $61.17 on average – a 4.5% drop from last year’s record high average of $64.05, according to a new survey from the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) on Wednesday.

While this year’s Thanksgiving dinner is more affordable compared to last year, it is still up 25% from 2019, underscoring price increases since the pandemic.

Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index report showed prices for food rose by 0.3% in October from the previous month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Food prices were up 3.3% from the same month a year ago.

But you can thank turkeys for the lower meal cost this Thanksgiving. The dinner’s centerpiece and most expensive item – a 16-pound turkey – costs $27.35 on average, down 5.6% from last year. And the AFBF says prices of turkeys are expected to drop further.

Here are the inflation trends to watch in New York.