Chicken breast (boneless)
~$1.05–$1.49/lb · as of 2026-07-06 Watch
Chicken breast (boneless) trades on a wholesale reference price that moves week to week; right now it's reading down across public sources (as of 2026-07-06). To see the live number, the typical range, and where your own price sits, open the reading below — then check your last invoice against it.
What is the cheapest month to buy chicken breast (boneless)?
The cheapest month for chicken breast (boneless) is usually November, and the priciest is August — a clear seasonal window: about 42% cheaper at its November low than at its August peak, across the multi-year public history (USDA, BLS, FRED). That is calendar co-occurrence, not a forecast; read it against your own invoice.
Why it matters
Chicken breast (boneless) trades per lb as a wholesale reference. That is the market's figure, not the delivered price at your door — your invoice adds freight, the vendor's margin, and your volume. Always compare in the same unit.
The price moves with forces upstream of your kitchen — chiefly corn (feed), soybeans (feed), and diesel. That is an association, not a direct cause, but when those climb, chicken breast (boneless) tends to follow. So a higher invoice is not always the vendor's doing: sometimes the whole market moved.
Notable price events
Across the ~3.8 years of public data we track, the wholesale reference for chicken breast moved farthest from its normal range on these dates. Each figure is the peak versus its own ~1-year local median — a market move, not a vendor markup.
What this means for your kitchen
Chicken breast: a highly volatile line. Don't anchor it to a printed menu price you can't revisit for months: keep headroom, and when the reading runs hot, feature it less or trim the portion before you eat the margin. Its big moves have typically held ~8 weeks before easing — plan for that, not for a bounce next week.
And the read that matters most: when a spike here lines up with a documented market event (below), a high invoice is the market — hold your price or re-engineer the plate, don't burn the vendor relationship. When the reference is calm but your price isn't, that's the conversation worth having.
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Aug 2022 ▲ 110% above normal
Documented around this time 2022 avian influenza outbreak onset (H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b)
What happened · sources
USDA APHIS confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (Eurasian H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b) in a US commercial flock on February 8, 2022 — a commercial turkey operation in DuBois County, Indiana — marking the start of what would become the largest HPAI outbreak in US history. During 2022, APHIS reported the outbreak affected more than 57 million birds nationwide across commercial and backyard flocks in dozens of states, including more than 43 million commercial table-egg laying hens depopulated that year, with the single largest monthly loss in March 2022. Affected commercial flocks included egg layers (~75% of losses), turkeys (~11%), and broilers (~8%).
Congressional Research Service (Library of Congress) · USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)
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May 2025 ▲ 48% above normal
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Dec 2022 ▼ 35% below normal
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Sep 2023 ▲ 30% above normal
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Apr 2026 ▲ 28% above normal
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Oct 2025 ▼ 26% below normal
Other documented events for chicken breast
Documented around this time 2024-2025 winter avian influenza surge
What happened · sources
The ongoing H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b HPAI outbreak intensified over the winter of 2024-2025. USDA APHIS reported roughly 18.25 million birds affected in December 2024 and about 23.3 million in January 2025, with commercial egg-layer depopulations concentrated in Ohio, Indiana, and Missouri; the national table-egg layer flock fell to about 291 million at the end of February 2025 from a typical level near 320-325 million. Cumulatively, USDA reported the 2022-present outbreak had affected more than 166 million birds through late February 2025, including more than 130 million commercial egg layers and over 18 million turkeys.
U.S. Farm Credit Administration (FCA) · WATT Global Media (WATTPoultry) · Congressional Research Service (Congress.gov)
Documented around this time US Midwest / Corn Belt drought (2012)
What happened · sources
A historic drought and heat across much of the US Midwest and Corn Belt in summer 2012 sharply reduced feed-grain and oilseed output; drought conditions peaked in late July 2012. USDA NASS reported the 2012 US corn crop at 10.8 billion bushels, about 13% below 2011, with the national corn yield falling to 123.4 bushels per acre (from 147.2 in 2011); soybean yield came in at 39.6 bushels per acre with production of 3.01 billion bushels, down about 3% from 2011. Soybeans are the dominant US vegetable-oil oilseed, and feed grain represents a large share of poultry production costs. Elevated feed costs persisted into the 2012/13 marketing year.
USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) · USDA Economic Research Service
Price moves are detected from public history (USDA/BLS/FRED). Documented events come from our open, cited registry — shown as co-occurring context, never asserted as the cause. How events are picked.
How to use this reading
- Open the reading above and note the typical range and the date.
- Pull your last chicken breast (boneless) invoice, in the same unit.
- Below the range is a good deal; inside is normal; well above is a vendor conversation.
- Watch the direction over a few weeks before re-pricing a dish — one week is noise.
Costing a dish that uses chicken breast (boneless)? Use the Plate Cost Calculator.
Frequently asked
What does chicken breast (boneless) cost wholesale right now?
It moves week to week. The market read above shows the current typical range and the date behind it; read it against your own invoice.
What is the best time of year to buy chicken breast (boneless)?
The cheapest stretch for chicken breast (boneless) is usually around November, and the priciest around August, based on its multi-year public price history. That is a calendar pattern, not a forecast; read it against your invoice.
Why did my chicken breast (boneless) price jump?
It can be the whole market or a single vendor. The range tells you which: if your price lands inside the range, the market moved; well above the range is a vendor conversation. It tends to move with corn (feed), soybeans (feed), diesel — association, not direct cause.
What unit is chicken breast (boneless) priced in?
It trades per lb as a wholesale reference — not the delivered price you pay, so compare against your invoice in the same unit.
Am I overpaying for chicken breast (boneless)?
Place your own price on the typical range above. Below the range is a good deal; inside is normal; above the range is worth a vendor conversation.
More poultryWhole chicken · Chicken thigh · Whole turkey
This is the market reference. To see whether your invoices track it, line by line, that's Muntin Ledger — your data, no language model.
Sourced: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service · U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — public data, via the live tool · what a cost index is