60%
Whole chicken yields 60%
You buy whole chicken by its whole weight, but you only plate 60% of it. That 40% loss is real cost the invoice never shows — here's the math.
Yield is the fraction of an ingredient that actually reaches the plate after you clean, peel, and trim it. What you pay is the AP (as-purchased) price; what it costs on the plate is the EP (edible-portion) price.
Bone, skin, and trim are the loss. A whole bird costs less per pound but yields far less usable meat than a portioned cut.
Say your invoice shows $1.60 per lb of whole chicken (an example AP price).
At 60% yield, your real cost is $2.67 per lb EP — because $1.60 ÷ 0.60 = $2.67.
AP price is illustrative; the EP figure is computed (AP ÷ yield). Use your real invoice price below.Yield breakdown
| As-purchased (AP) | 100% |
|---|---|
| Edible portion (EP) | 60% |
| Lost to trim | 40% |
Source: CIA Standard Yield Tables.
Common questions
What is the yield of whole chicken?
Whole chicken typically yields 60% edible portion of its as-purchased weight, per the CIA Standard Yield Tables.
How much whole chicken is lost to trim?
About 40% of the as-purchased weight is lost to cleaning, peeling, and trimming before it reaches the plate.
How do you calculate the edible-portion cost of whole chicken?
Divide the as-purchased price by the yield: EP cost = AP price ÷ 0.60. At 60% yield, the trim makes your real plated cost meaningfully higher than the invoice price.
Market readconfidence medium · as of 2026-07-06
About $0.84–$1.27/lb (wholesale reference), up +11.5% over the recent window.
At today's reference (~$1.07/lb) and the 60% yield, your edible lb runs about $1.78.
Higher than 16 of its last 16 weekly reads — near the top of its recent range.
Watch. Up on paper, but for this item the move is not yet distinguishable from its own week-to-week noise once we account for every ingredient we check at once — we are holding this read as context until the next print.
Enter your price to compare it against this public wholesale reference.
One pricing methodology backs the level, and the markets disagree on direction.
Sources · 3
Sourced: CIA Standard Yield Tables, via the Plate Cost Calculator · what yield means · edible portion