Romaine lettuce
~$10.00–$46.00/carton · as of 2026-07-16 Watch
Romaine lettuce trades on a wholesale reference price that moves week to week; right now it's reading down across public sources (as of 2026-07-16). 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 romaine lettuce?
The cheapest month for romaine lettuce is usually January, and the priciest is November — a clear seasonal window: about 47% cheaper at its January low than at its November 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
Romaine lettuce trades per carton 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 diesel. That is an association, not a direct cause, but when those climb, romaine lettuce tends to follow. So a higher invoice is not always the vendor's doing: sometimes the whole market moved.
Romaine lettuce is seasonal: a high read today can ease as supply returns. If the range is expensive but the direction points down, holding the dish a few weeks can beat re-pricing it.
For category context: fresh fruits & vegetables as a whole moved -49.4% over the window (BLS PPI, fresh fruits & vegetables). That's the broad produce market's direction — not romaine lettuce's own read, which is above.
Notable price events
Across the ~25.2 years of public data we track, the wholesale reference for romaine lettuce 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
Romaine lettuce: 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 ~3 months 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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Nov 2022 ▲ 263% above normal
Documented around this time INSV outbreak and fall lettuce supply shortfall, Salinas Valley (2022)
What happened · sources
Published research and industry reporting documented that INSV outbreaks, combined with the soil-borne pathogen Pythium wilt, affected Salinas Valley lettuce production in 2022, with an estimated $150 million in losses to the region's lettuce industry reported for the year. Survey work in Monterey County (2021 season) detected the virus at incidence above 1% in more than 750 fields, with incidence above 50% not uncommon and severe fields reaching up to 100% loss. In fall 2022, Salinas Valley lettuce supplies were documented as short, with record wholesale per-box prices reported for iceberg, romaine, green leaf and red leaf lettuce; the December transition to desert growing regions was separately affected by unusually cool weather.
Plant Disease (American Phytopathological Society) · The Packer · Farm Progress
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Feb 2002 ▲ 256% above normal
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Apr 2017 ▲ 251% above normal
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Mar 2011 ▲ 186% above normal
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Nov 2009 ▲ 170% above normal
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Feb 2013 ▲ 167% above normal
Documented around this time January 2013 desert Southwest freeze (Yuma / Imperial Valley)
What happened · sources
A multi-day cold snap in mid-January 2013 brought freezing temperatures to the desert winter-vegetable regions of southwestern Arizona (Yuma County) and California's Imperial Valley, which together supply the majority of US leafy greens during winter. Growers and news reporting documented freeze damage to iceberg and romaine lettuce over the weekend of January 12-13, 2013 — including head blistering, epidermal peeling and internal leaf burn — with head lettuce within roughly three weeks of harvest hardest hit and some harvests delayed.
Other documented events for romaine lettuce
Documented around this time 2023 Salinas Valley / Pajaro River flooding
What happened · sources
A series of atmospheric-river storms in January and March 2023 caused widespread flooding in Monterey County's Salinas Valley and the Pajaro River area, including a Pajaro River levee breach in March 2023. The Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner's Office documented roughly 15,507 acres flooded in January and 8,736 acres in March (over 20,000 acres of farmland impacted for the year), with weather-related agricultural damage estimates ranging from about $330 million in initial surveys to roughly $600 million in later county tallies. Romaine lettuce, celery and broccoli were among the crops reported most affected; leafy-greens food-safety rules require destroying crops exposed to floodwater and testing soil before replanting, and total county lettuce acreage for the year was reported down roughly 3,000 acres from the prior year.
County of Monterey Agricultural Commissioner's Office · Farm Progress · Local News Matters (Bay City News Foundation)
Documented around this time INSV outbreak in Salinas Valley lettuce (2020)
What happened · sources
Peer-reviewed research and regional reporting documented a severe outbreak of impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV), a thrips-transmitted orthotospovirus, in lettuce across California's Salinas Valley (Monterey County) during the 2020 growing season. A survey of roughly 1,350 fields reported an average crop loss of about 33%, with some fields reaching 100% loss, and an estimated $100 million in lost gross revenue for Salinas Valley lettuce growers that year. All lettuce types (iceberg, butterhead, romaine, and leaf) are documented as susceptible. Western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) populations and hot weather were identified as drivers of the outbreak's spread.
Plant Disease (American Phytopathological Society) · PubMed (U.S. National Library of Medicine)
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 romaine lettuce 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 romaine lettuce? Use the Plate Cost Calculator.
Frequently asked
What does romaine lettuce 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 romaine lettuce?
The cheapest stretch for romaine lettuce is usually around January, and the priciest around November, based on its multi-year public price history. That is a calendar pattern, not a forecast; read it against your invoice.
Why did my romaine lettuce 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 diesel — association, not direct cause.
What unit is romaine lettuce priced in?
It trades per carton as a wholesale reference — not the delivered price you pay, so compare against your invoice in the same unit.
Am I overpaying for romaine lettuce?
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.
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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 — public data, via the live tool · what a cost index is