Summer holidays have, for generations, been a time to fire up the grill and have a feast with the people closest to you. Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day are all culturally inextricable from barbecue time.
But while holidays have always been a time to spend more on food, continued food inflation is set to make this a particularly expensive Independence Day weekend.
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While food prices rose by 5.6% according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, numbers crunched by fitness website Total Shape found that the cost of hosting a Fourth of July barbecue is significantly higher than last year due to the spiking cost of foods traditionally eaten on the holiday.
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This State Will Spend The Most On That Fourth Of July Barbecue
The price for a package of sausages is, going off of BLS data, 26% more expensive than it was in 2022 while a bag of cookies and potato chips are up a respective 14% and 15%.
In a relief to many, beer is the one popular item whose prices increased less than overall food inflation. Across the country, a bottle costs only 3.3% more than a year ago.
Both food prices and buying trends vary significantly state to state. Hosting a barbecue that provides the same meat, sides and two beer bottles per person for 10 people will cost $170.86 in Georgia and just $98.05 in New Jersey.
The $150.80 that this type of meal will set one back in in South Dakota is, proportionally to local salaries, the highest in the country. The cost burden is high given that the average salary is just $3,577 a month.
Georgia, Kentucky and Montana topped the list with both high cost of ingredients and lower-than-average salaries. Illinois bucks that trend with a $4,594 a month average but still landed in the top five due to the $172.19 food cost.
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When looking only at food costs and total spending, Massachusetts is the state where the cost of hosting a 10-person barbecue will be the highest. The $188.22 cost of barbecuing is, however, offset by the high salaries ($5,473 average) in the home state of many top universities and biotech companies.
New Jersey, meanwhile, tops the list of places where it's particularly affordable to have a Fourth of July due to both the high local salaries ($4,998 average) and the low cost of food ($98.05).
According to the people behind the study, the rising cost of food will push more people to try age-old cost-saving measures such as grilling more vegetarian options and organizing a potluck in which each guest brings a dish rather than a single family taking on the costs of hosting.
That said, prices for specific staples can also vary significantly due to supply at the time of the barbecue — during Memorial Day weekend, a tomato shortage sent the cost of ketchup spiking by more than 28% before prices came down again for the summer.
"With food prices up across America in the last year, many of us will be left worried about covering the cost of our usual holiday celebrations this summer — especially for the Fourth of July, which is a chance for the whole family to get together," a Total Shape spokesperson said.
