Swarmed price index · seller prices read weekly · last read September 28, 2026

# Honey Prices, Tracked Weekly

 What honey sells for per pound right now, what beekeepers are paid, and how both have moved since 1874

## The short version

- 1 US beekeepers were paid $3.05 a pound for their honey in 2025. Sold direct, the same honey fetches $5.48 a pound by the pail and $16.70 a pound in jars.
- 2 Supermarket honey works out at $9.32 a pound. A jar from a beekeeper's own storefront costs about 1.8x that.
- 3 Imported honey arrived at $1.58 a pound in June 2026, against $2.07 paid to US beekeepers for bulk honey the same month.

 Live, weekly

### What 248 beekeeping storefronts are asking for honey

 Our own scan. Last read 28 September 2026.

 Retail jars

 $16.70

 per pound, asked by 147 sellers

 Midsize

 $7.92

 per pound, asked by 49 sellers

 Bulk pails

 $5.48

 per pound, asked by 29 sellers

 Asking prices from beekeeping storefronts, checked weekly. Not what buyers actually paid, and not a USDA survey.

 USDA, monthly

### What beekeepers are paid per pound for bulk honey

 **Up 5.3%** on May 2026, the previous month we have. Bulk sales, in today's money, from the USDA National Honey Report.

 Paid to beekeepers

 $2.00

 per pound in bulk, USDA, June 2026

 A different market from the asking prices above: what a beekeeper is paid for honey sold by the barrel, which is why it sits so far under the jar price. USDA’s annual figure across all sales channels was $3.05 a pound in 2025. The vertical scale is fitted to the prices shown rather than starting at zero, so month-to-month movement is readable. Breaks in the line are months with no report issue in our parse, left empty rather than joined up: USDA archives the report about sixteen months in arrears, so recent months arrive one at a time.

## New to beekeeping? The words on this page

**Paid to beekeepers**
 What a beekeeper receives when honey first leaves the farm, before anyone bottles, ships or marks it up. Economists call this the farm-gate price.

**Pail**
 A bucket of honey, typically holding forty pounds or more, sold to bakers, brewers and other beekeepers. Buying in bulk costs far less per pound than buying in jars.

**Wholesale**
 Sold in bulk to a business that resells it, rather than to the person who eats it. Wholesale prices sit well below what a shopper pays.

**Packer**
 A company that buys honey in bulk from beekeepers and importers, blends and bottles it, and sells it to shops under a brand name.

**Landed price**
 What imported honey costs once it reaches the US, including shipping, before a packer bottles it or a shop adds its margin.

**Colour grade**
 USDA grades honey by colour, from water white through amber to dark. Lighter honey tends to taste milder; darker honey is stronger.

**Comb honey**
 Honey sold still sealed in the wax comb the bees built, rather than spun out and bottled. It was the usual way to sell honey before the 1900s.

**In today's money**
 Older prices converted into what the same money buys now, using the government's consumer price index. It is the only fair way to compare a price from 1987 with one from this year.

 This week

## What honey actually sells for, read from sellers every week

 Buying by the pail costs about a third of what the same honey costs in jars: $5.48 a pound against $16.70. Packaging, bottling and retail margin account for the gap. Across a whole year of sales, beekeepers themselves receive $3.05 a pound on average. USDA publishes a honey price once a year and its market report once a month; this is a weekly read of what beekeeping storefronts ask.

 $5.48 / $7.92 / $16.70 Asking price per pound: pail / midsize / jar 225 seller quotes, checked weekly

### One pound of honey, six prices

 What the same pound of honey sells for at each step between the hive and your table.

 The two left-hand prices are honey sold in bulk between businesses, from USDA. The rest are what a person pays to take a pound home. The gap between them pays for jars, bottling, shipping, the shop, and the beekeeper's own time.

One pound of honey at six points between import and a beekeeper's jar, USD per pound

Price point | USD per lb | Who pays it | Source

 Imported | 1.58 | what a packer pays for foreign honey landed in the US | USDA AMS National Honey Report, June 2026

 US bulk | 2.07 | what a packer pays a US beekeeper by the drum | USDA AMS National Honey Report, June 2026

 Pail | 5.48 | a bucket of 40 lb or more, bought from a beekeeper | Swarmed weekly seller panel

 Midsize | 7.92 | a tub of 10 to 40 lb, bought from a beekeeper | Swarmed weekly seller panel

 Supermarket | 9.32 | the middle jar on a supermarket shelf | Swarmed supermarket shelf read

 Beekeeper's jar | 16.7 | a jar of under 10 lb from a beekeeper's own storefront | Swarmed weekly seller panel

 How to read these numbers (3 notes)

**What sellers ask, not what buyers paid**
 A listing price is what a seller wants. Nobody publishes what honey actually sold for.

**Sellers who publish a list**
 These are storefronts with a readable price list, not a random draw of US honey sellers.

**A snapshot, not a trend**
 One week of prices so far. It says what sellers charge now, not how honey prices have moved.

 Supermarket

## A beekeeper's honey costs 1.8x what the supermarket charges

 The middle jar on a supermarket shelf works out at $9.32 a pound, against $16.70 from a beekeeper's own storefront. City matters too: the dearest of the 8 cities we read sits 19% above the cheapest. Store-brand jars are the cheap end, and the national brands beside them cost 30% more.

 $9.32 Supermarket shelf, per pound across 8 metro stores

### What honey costs in the supermarket

 The middle price on the shelf, in eight cities.

 Beekeepers selling their own honey ask about 1.8 times this. Each bar is a single store, so read them as a range rather than a ranking of cities.

Median supermarket sticker price per pound of honey by sampled market, one Kroger-group store per market

Market | Median USD per lb | 25th percentile USD | 75th percentile USD | Products

 Los Angeles CA | 10.29 | 7.99 | 11.99 | 48

 Seattle WA | 9.33 | 7.49 | 11.99 | 16

 Atlanta GA | 9.32 | 7.29 | 9.99 | 27

 Cincinnati OH | 9.32 | 7.66 | 11.05 | 42

 Richmond VA | 9.32 | 7.66 | 11.99 | 50

 Houston TX | 9.29 | 7.99 | 11.33 | 53

 Denver CO | 8.74 | 7.79 | 11.32 | 51

 Detroit MI | 8.65 | 7.32 | 11.33 | 59

### Where the honey on the shelf comes from

 Median sticker price a pound, by the country the packer declares.

 171 products that declare an origin, across 70 stores. Not every listing declares one.

 Origin is the packer’s own declaration, read from the listing rather than inferred. Turkey honey carries the highest median at $11.49 a pound and Argentina the lowest at $5.33, a spread of 116%.

Supermarket honey median price per pound by declared country of origin

Origin | $/lb | Products | Stores

 Turkey | 11.49 | 5 | 22

 United States | 9.32 | 154 | 70

 Brazil | 7.5 | 8 | 68

 Argentina | 5.33 | 4 | 70

 How to read these numbers (3 notes)

**One chain, and not all of the country**
 The city bars are one store each. The national and origin figures read many more shops of the same chain, but it is still one chain, and it has none across much of the Northeast.

**A level, not yet a trend**
 Shelf prices barely move week to week, so this is today's level rather than a trend.

**Organic is not the bargain it looks like**
 Lumped together, organic honey looks cheaper. Compared like with like inside each brand tier it costs more. Store-brand jars are both cheaper and more often organic, which creates the illusion.

 Honey price

## Honey prices have roughly doubled since 1987, once inflation is removed

 Beekeepers received $3.05 per pound in 2025, against about 50 cents in 1987. The sticker price rose sixfold, but 1987's 50 cents is worth about $1.43 in today's money , so the rise is closer to double. On that basis 2025 is the third-best year on record, behind 2022 and 2021.

 $3.05/lb 2025 honey price About double 1987, after inflation

### Honey price and production, 1987 to 2025

 What beekeepers get paid per pound, in sticker price and in today's money.

 The sticker price rose about 6x. Adjusted for inflation it roughly doubled, and 2025 sits below the 2022 peak.

US honey price received by beekeepers and total production, by year, from USDA NASS.

Year | Price USD/lb nominal | Price USD/lb constant 2025 | Production lb

 1987 | 0.503 | 1.4252 | 235436000

 1988 | 0.5 | 1.3612 | 222757000

 1989 | 0.498 | 1.2933 | 180634000

 1990 | 0.537 | 1.3232 | 198674000

 1991 | 0.556 | 1.3143 | 220917000

 1992 | 0.55 | 1.2619 | 221676000

 1993 | 0.539 | 1.2012 | 230575000

 1994 | 0.528 | 1.1468 | 218187000

 1995 | 0.685 | 1.4472 | 211073000

 1996 | 0.888 | 1.8227 | 199511000

 1997 | 0.752 | 1.5083 | 196536000

 1998 | 0.655 | 1.2936 | 220527000

 1999 | 0.601 | 1.1616 | 203068000

 2000 | 0.597 | 1.1161 | 220286000

 2001 | 0.704 | 1.28 | 186051000

 2002 | 1.327 | 2.3751 | 171718000

 2003 | 1.387 | 2.4274 | 181724000

 2004 | 1.088 | 1.8544 | 183494000

 2005 | 0.922 | 1.5199 | 174614000

 2006 | 1.005 | 1.605 | 154910000

 2007 | 1.077 | 1.6723 | 148341000

 2008 | 1.421 | 2.1248 | 163789000

 2009 | 1.473 | 2.2104 | 146416000

 2010 | 1.619 | 2.3903 | 176462000

 2011 | 1.765 | 2.5261 | 148357000

 2012 | 1.992 | 2.7932 | 142296000

 2013 | 2.14 | 2.9574 | 149550000

 2014 | 2.17 | 2.951 | 178310000

 2015 | 2.08 | 2.8253 | 156705000

 2016 | 2.12 | 2.8437 | 162246000

 2017 | 2.2 | 2.8895 | 149025000

 2018 | 2.21 | 2.8334 | 154008000

 2019 | 1.99 | 2.506 | 156922000

 2020 | 2.1 | 2.6123 | 147594000

 2021 | 2.65 | 3.1485 | 126744000

 2022 | 3.01 | 3.3112 | 125331000

 2023 | 2.55 | 2.6943 | 139471000

 2024 | 2.41 | 2.4734 | 134393000

 2025 | 3.05 | 3.05 | 115716000

### Honey per colony, 1987 to 2025

 How much honey the average hive produces in a year.

 Each hive makes noticeably less honey than it did in the late 1980s, even though the number of hives has not fallen nearly as much.

Honey produced per colony each year, derived as US production divided by colonies producing honey, from USDA NASS

Year | Yield lb per colony

 1987 | 71

 1988 | 66.1

 1989 | 51.2

 1990 | 61.7

 1991 | 68.8

 1992 | 72.8

 1993 | 80.2

 1994 | 78.4

 1995 | 79.5

 1996 | 77.3

 1997 | 74.7

 1998 | 83.6

 1999 | 76.6

 2000 | 84

 2001 | 73

 2002 | 66.7

 2003 | 69.9

 2004 | 71.8

 2005 | 72.5

 2006 | 64.7

 2007 | 60.7

 2008 | 69.9

 2009 | 58.6

 2010 | 65.6

 2011 | 59.6

 2012 | 56

 2013 | 56.6

 2014 | 65.1

 2015 | 58.9

 2016 | 58.4

 2017 | 55.5

 2018 | 54.5

 2019 | 55.8

 2020 | 54.5

 2021 | 47

 2022 | 47

 2023 | 55.1

 2024 | 51.7

 2025 | 48

 How to read these numbers (3 notes)

**Mixed sales channels**
 Wholesale, retail and cooperative sales averaged together, so it is not a bulk price.

**Farms only**
 Covers operations with five or more colonies. Hobby beekeepers are not surveyed.

**Inflation adjustment**
 Adjusted using the general cost of living, not a beekeeper's own costs like feed, fuel and packaging.

 Since 1874

## A century and a half of honey prices, in one line

 Before the First World War, white comb honey wholesaled at around $5.29 a pound in today's money. What beekeepers are paid has sat near $2 for most of the modern record, and 2025's $3.05 is the top of that range. The two figures measure different points in the chain, wholesale against the farm gate, so the gap between them is partly the middleman. What travels is the shape: honey was expensive, got cheap, and is dear again.

 $5.29 vs $3.05 Wholesale before 1914 vs paid to beekeepers today Both in 2025 dollars, 116 years apart

### Honey, 1874 to today

 Constant 2025 dollars a pound. The line thickens where more documents stand behind the year, and the strip below shows which source covers which decade.

**Trade press quotations**
 wholesale, comb white. American Bee Journal and Gleanings in Bee Culture, scanned by the Internet Archive.

**USDA yearbooks**
 price received by beekeepers. Agricultural Statistics, read from the scanned editions.

**USDA NASS**
 price received by beekeepers. Quick Stats, the annual Bee and Honey Inquiry.

 The trade press quoted **wholesale** honey; USDA reports what beekeepers were **paid**. Wholesale sits higher by construction, so read the shape of a line rather than the step between two of them.

Honey price per pound by year and source, 1874 to 2025

Year | Source | Real $/lb (2025) | Documents behind the year

 1874 | Trade press quotations | 5.976 | 36

 1875 | Trade press quotations | 6.303 | 30

 1876 | Trade press quotations | 6.652 | 19

 1877 | Trade press quotations | 5.367 | 23

 1878 | Trade press quotations | 4.421 | 19

 1879 | Trade press quotations | 3.801 | 21

 1880 | Trade press quotations | 5.672 | 25

 1881 | Trade press quotations | 6.152 | 121

 1882 | Trade press quotations | 6.506 | 144

 1883 | Trade press quotations | 5.874 | 100

 1884 | Trade press quotations | 5.69 | 152

 1885 | Trade press quotations | 4.884 | 116

 1886 | Trade press quotations | 4.3 | 190

 1887 | Trade press quotations | 4.838 | 192

 1888 | Trade press quotations | 5.644 | 142

 1889 | Trade press quotations | 5.554 | 134

 1890 | Trade press quotations | 5.017 | 199

 1891 | Trade press quotations | 5.465 | 198

 1892 | Trade press quotations | 5.375 | 198

 1893 | Trade press quotations | 5.285 | 156

 1895 | Trade press quotations | 4.888 | 15

 1896 | Trade press quotations | 5.031 | 12

 1899 | Trade press quotations | 4.644 | 52

 1900 | Trade press quotations | 5.611 | 75

 1901 | Trade press quotations | 5.321 | 62

 1902 | Trade press quotations | 5.21 | 55

 1903 | Trade press quotations | 5.196 | 46

 1904 | Trade press quotations | 4.748 | 69

 1905 | Trade press quotations | 4.838 | 60

 1906 | Trade press quotations | 5.196 | 90

 1907 | Trade press quotations | 3.822 | 56

 1909 | Trade press quotations | 5.017 | 10

 1910 | Trade press quotations | 5.356 | 17

 1911 | Trade press quotations | 5.356 | 17

 1912 | Trade press quotations | 5.505 | 23

 1913 | Trade press quotations | 5.069 | 20

 1914 | Trade press quotations | 4.821 | 14

 1940 | USDA yearbooks | 1.402 | 2

 1941 | USDA yearbooks | 1.576 | 2

 1942 | USDA yearbooks | 2.719 | 4

 1943 | USDA yearbooks | 3.126 | 4

 1944 | USDA yearbooks | 3.237 | 2

 1945 | USDA yearbooks | 3.326 | 3

 1947 | USDA yearbooks | 3.59 | 3

 1948 | USDA yearbooks | 2.278 | 1

 1949 | USDA yearbooks | 2.03 | 2

 1950 | USDA yearbooks | 2.047 | 3

 1951 | USDA yearbooks | 1.985 | 3

 1952 | USDA yearbooks | 1.964 | 1

 1953 | USDA yearbooks | 1.986 | 1

 1954 | USDA yearbooks | 2.038 | 2

 1955 | USDA yearbooks | 2.139 | 2

 1956 | USDA yearbooks | 2.25 | 1

 1957 | USDA yearbooks | 2.144 | 3

 1958 | USDA yearbooks | 1.942 | 2

 1959 | USDA yearbooks | 1.878 | 2

 1960 | USDA yearbooks | 1.948 | 3

 1961 | USDA yearbooks | 1.939 | 3

 1962 | USDA yearbooks | 1.852 | 2

 1963 | USDA yearbooks | 1.893 | 3

 1964 | USDA yearbooks | 1.931 | 3

 1965 | USDA yearbooks | 1.819 | 3

 1966 | USDA yearbooks | 1.727 | 2

 1967 | USDA yearbooks | 1.603 | 3

 1968 | USDA yearbooks | 1.565 | 3

 1969 | USDA yearbooks | 1.536 | 1

 1970 | USDA yearbooks | 1.442 | 3

 1971 | USDA yearbooks | 1.733 | 1

 1973 | USDA yearbooks | 3.22 | 1

 1974 | USDA yearbooks | 3.329 | 1

 1975 | USDA yearbooks | 3.022 | 2

 1976 | USDA yearbooks | 2.823 | 2

 1977 | USDA yearbooks | 3.082 | 2

 1978 | USDA yearbooks | 2.695 | 2

 1979 | USDA yearbooks | 2.631 | 2

 1980 | USDA yearbooks | 2.403 | 1

 1981 | USDA yearbooks | 2.125 | 1

 1987 | USDA NASS | 1.425 | official series

 1988 | USDA NASS | 1.361 | official series

 1989 | USDA NASS | 1.293 | official series

 1990 | USDA NASS | 1.323 | official series

 1991 | USDA NASS | 1.314 | official series

 1992 | USDA NASS | 1.262 | official series

 1993 | USDA NASS | 1.201 | official series

 1994 | USDA NASS | 1.147 | official series

 1995 | USDA NASS | 1.447 | official series

 1996 | USDA NASS | 1.823 | official series

 1997 | USDA NASS | 1.508 | official series

 1998 | USDA NASS | 1.294 | official series

 1999 | USDA NASS | 1.162 | official series

 2000 | USDA NASS | 1.116 | official series

 2001 | USDA NASS | 1.28 | official series

 2002 | USDA NASS | 2.375 | official series

 2003 | USDA NASS | 2.427 | official series

 2004 | USDA NASS | 1.854 | official series

 2005 | USDA NASS | 1.52 | official series

 2006 | USDA NASS | 1.605 | official series

 2007 | USDA NASS | 1.672 | official series

 2008 | USDA NASS | 2.125 | official series

 2009 | USDA NASS | 2.21 | official series

 2010 | USDA NASS | 2.39 | official series

 2011 | USDA NASS | 2.526 | official series

 2012 | USDA NASS | 2.793 | official series

 2013 | USDA NASS | 2.957 | official series

 2014 | USDA NASS | 2.951 | official series

 2015 | USDA NASS | 2.825 | official series

 2016 | USDA NASS | 2.844 | official series

 2017 | USDA NASS | 2.889 | official series

 2018 | USDA NASS | 2.833 | official series

 2019 | USDA NASS | 2.506 | official series

 2020 | USDA NASS | 2.612 | official series

 2021 | USDA NASS | 3.148 | official series

 2022 | USDA NASS | 3.311 | official series

 2023 | USDA NASS | 2.694 | official series

 2024 | USDA NASS | 2.473 | official series

 2025 | USDA NASS | 3.05 | official series

 How to read these numbers (3 notes)

**Two different prices**
 The old figures are what honey wholesaled for; the newer ones are what beekeepers were paid. Wholesale is higher because it includes the middleman.

**Inflation before 1913**
 Official inflation figures only start in 1913, so anything earlier is adjusted using historians' reconstructions.

**Comb honey**
 The old line follows comb honey in the wax, which is how most honey was sold then.

 Imports

## Imported honey lands well below what US beekeepers are paid

 In June 2026 US beekeepers were paid about $2.07 a pound while imported honey landed at $1.58. The cheapest regular source, Vietnam, averages $1.10 across the whole period. The gap has narrowed, from $0.73 to $0.49 a pound, because import prices have risen faster than American ones.

 $2.07 vs $1.58 US price vs imported, per pound gap down from $0.73 in November 2018

### Imported honey against what US beekeepers are paid

 Both lines in today's money. The gap between them is what US beekeepers are competing against.

 The spread has narrowed from **$0.93 a pound in November 2018** to **$0.48 in June 2026**: imported honey has risen faster than the US price, not the other way round. The cheapest regular source over the whole span is Vietnam at $1.10. USDA National Honey Report. What US beekeepers are paid when they sell 10,000 lb or more at a time, and what importers pay at the dock with duty included. Neither is a shop price.

Monthly mean price paid to US beekeepers against the mean price paid by importers at the dock, from USDA AMS National Honey Report issues

Month | Paid to US beekeepers USD per lb | Paid by importers USD per lb | Spread USD

 November 2018 | 2.36 | 1.43 | 0.93

 December 2018 | 2.38 | 1.46 | 0.92

 January 2019 | 2.39 | 1.38 | 1.01

 February 2019 | 2.29 | 1.41 | 0.88

 March 2019 | 2.38 | 1.38 | 1

 April 2019 | 2.72 | 1.21 | 1.51

 May 2019 | 2.49 | 1.28 | 1.21

 June 2019 | 2.36 | 1.26 | 1.1

 July 2019 | 2.36 | 1.33 | 1.03

 August 2019 | 2.36 | 1.25 | 1.11

 September 2019 | 2.17 | 1.3 | 0.87

 October 2019 | 2.1 | 1.24 | 0.86

 November 2019 | 2.13 | 1.28 | 0.85

 December 2019 | 2.12 | 1.25 | 0.87

 January 2020 | 2.11 | 1.29 | 0.82

 February 2020 | 1.94 | 1.17 | 0.77

 March 2020 | 1.93 | 1.18 | 0.75

 April 2020 | 2.03 | 1.21 | 0.82

 May 2020 | 2.16 | 1.18 | 0.98

 June 2020 | 2.11 | 1.16 | 0.95

 July 2020 | 2.05 | 1.17 | 0.88

 August 2020 | 2.17 | 1.19 | 0.98

 September 2020 | 2.08 | 1.2 | 0.88

 October 2020 | 2.05 | 1.3 | 0.75

 November 2020 | 2.1 | 1.39 | 0.71

 December 2020 | 2.01 | 1.35 | 0.66

 January 2021 | 2.12 | 1.54 | 0.58

 February 2021 | 1.92 | 1.52 | 0.4

 March 2021 | 2.19 | 1.6 | 0.59

 April 2021 | 2.21 | 1.63 | 0.58

 May 2021 | 2.07 | 1.65 | 0.42

 June 2021 | 2.3 | 1.69 | 0.61

 July 2021 | 2.31 | 1.82 | 0.49

 August 2021 | 2.61 | 1.78 | 0.83

 September 2021 | 2.63 | 1.75 | 0.88

 October 2021 | 2.6 | 1.84 | 0.76

 November 2021 | 2.61 | 2.07 | 0.54

 December 2021 | 2.58 | 2.1 | 0.48

 January 2022 | 2.53 | 2.34 | 0.19

 February 2022 | 2.52 | 2.56 | -0.04

 March 2022 | 2.47 | 2.43 | 0.04

 April 2022 | 2.78 | 2.47 | 0.31

 May 2022 | 3.1 | 2.43 | 0.67

 June 2022 | 3.09 | 2.29 | 0.8

 July 2022 | 3.01 | 2.34 | 0.67

 August 2022 | 2.96 | 2.32 | 0.64

 September 2022 | 2.92 | 2.36 | 0.56

 October 2022 | 2.95 | 2.33 | 0.62

 November 2022 | 2.91 | 2.28 | 0.63

 December 2022 | 2.94 | 2.33 | 0.61

 January 2023 | 2.84 | 2.29 | 0.55

 February 2023 | 2.81 | 2.19 | 0.62

 March 2023 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 0.7

 April 2023 | 2.96 | 2.1 | 0.86

 May 2023 | 2.84 | 1.77 | 1.07

 June 2023 | 2.99 | 1.75 | 1.24

 July 2023 | 2.89 | 1.55 | 1.34

 August 2023 | 2.74 | 1.47 | 1.27

 September 2023 | 2.54 | 1.49 | 1.05

 October 2023 | 2.56 | 1.42 | 1.14

 November 2023 | 2.57 | 1.32 | 1.25

 December 2023 | 2.47 | 1.39 | 1.08

 January 2024 | 2.19 | 1.48 | 0.71

 February 2024 | 2.06 | 1.54 | 0.52

 March 2024 | 2.34 | 1.23 | 1.11

 April 2024 | 2.04 | 1.22 | 0.82

 May 2024 | 2.07 | 1.25 | 0.82

 June 2024 | 2 | 1.28 | 0.72

 July 2024 | 1.98 | 1.27 | 0.71

 August 2024 | 2.1 | 1.27 | 0.83

 September 2024 | 2.14 | 1.28 | 0.86

 October 2024 | 2.17 | 1.32 | 0.85

 December 2024 | 2.11 | 1.33 | 0.78

 January 2025 | 1.74 | 1.39 | 0.35

 February 2025 | 2.12 | 1.37 | 0.75

 April 2025 | 2.14 | 1.5 | 0.64

 June 2025 | 1.91 | 1.43 | 0.48

 August 2025 | 1.98 | 1.52 | 0.46

 January 2026 | 1.85 | 1.63 | 0.22

 April 2026 | 1.83 | 1.34 | 0.49

 May 2026 | 1.9 | 1.49 | 0.41

 June 2026 | 2 | 1.52 | 0.48

 How to read these numbers (3 notes)

**Two different deals**
 US prices are paid to beekeepers in 10,000 lb lots; import prices are paid at the dock. Neither is what a shopper pays.

**Unweighted**
 A country shipping one container counts the same here as one shipping a hundred. The next section weighs each one by how much actually arrived.

**Not all the same honey**
 Floral source and colour grade vary between shipments, and the mix changes month to month.

 More findings

## More from the data

 The cross-checks and the detail behind the story above. Open any of them for the full finding and its charts.

 By state

### North Dakota produces more honey than the next two states combined

 North Dakota, 30.8M lb Top producer

 Read more Close North Dakota produced about 31 million pounds in 2025, more than California and Montana combined. Volume and price run opposite: North Dakota received the lowest price per pound at $1.89, while North Carolina, the smallest producer listed, received the highest at $7.99.

### Where honey pays, state by state

 What beekeepers were paid per pound in 2025. The darker the cell, the more they were paid. Blank cells are states USDA no longer prices on their own.

 North Dakota was paid least, $1.89 a pound, and made more honey than any other state; North Carolina was paid most, $7.99. States that produce a lot mostly sell in bulk to packers, and states that produce a little sell more of it in jars, direct. The blank states are pooled by USDA as "Other States", paid $3.75 a pound between them.

Honey price received by beekeepers, per pound, by state, 2025, from USDA NASS

State | Price paid (USD/lb) | Production (lb)

 North Carolina | 7.99 | 672000

 Ohio | 6.45 | 765000

 Iowa | 5.43 | 2108000

 New York | 5.14 | 2912000

 Wisconsin | 4.52 | 1500000

 Washington | 4.36 | 2046000

 Pennsylvania | 4.33 | 1425000

 Florida | 3.94 | 3616000

 Texas | 3.91 | 2160000

 Georgia | 3.68 | 2144000

 Michigan | 3.27 | 3738000

 California | 2.57 | 11025000

 Louisiana | 2.47 | 3286000

 South Dakota | 2.44 | 8200000

 Minnesota | 2.38 | 5650000

 Mississippi | 2.32 | 2225000

 Montana | 2.18 | 10455000

 Oregon | 2.09 | 2349000

 Idaho | 2.07 | 3016000

 North Dakota | 1.89 | 30820000

### State by state, 2025

 Pick a measure to see how states compare.

 Price per lb Production Colonies Yield per colony Show “Other States”

 **“Other States” is not a place.** It is every state USDA stopped listing on its own in 2024, added together, so it is left out by default: ranking it against a single state would not be a fair comparison. More than 40 states used to be listed individually, and about 20 are now.

US states ranked by price per lb, 2025, from USDA NASS

State | Price USD/lb | Production lb | Colonies | Yield lb per colony

 North Dakota | 1.89 | 30820000 | 460000 | 67

 California | 2.57 | 11025000 | 315000 | 35

 Montana | 2.18 | 10455000 | 123000 | 85

 South Dakota | 2.44 | 8200000 | 205000 | 40

 Minnesota | 2.38 | 5650000 | 113000 | 50

 Michigan | 3.27 | 3738000 | 89000 | 42

 Florida | 3.94 | 3616000 | 113000 | 32

 Louisiana | 2.47 | 3286000 | 62000 | 53

 Idaho | 2.07 | 3016000 | 104000 | 29

 New York | 5.14 | 2912000 | 52000 | 56

 Oregon | 2.09 | 2349000 | 87000 | 27

 Mississippi | 2.32 | 2225000 | 25000 | 89

 Texas | 3.91 | 2160000 | 72000 | 30

 Georgia | 3.68 | 2144000 | 67000 | 32

 Iowa | 5.43 | 2108000 | 34000 | 62

 Washington | 4.36 | 2046000 | 66000 | 31

 Wisconsin | 4.52 | 1500000 | 50000 | 30

 Pennsylvania | 4.33 | 1425000 | 25000 | 57

 Ohio | 6.45 | 765000 | 17000 | 45

 North Carolina | 7.99 | 672000 | 16000 | 42

 Other States (combined) | 3.75 | 15604000 | 317000 | 49

### Big producers get paid the least per pound

 Each dot is a state. Further right means more honey; higher means a better price per pound.

 The states making the most honey get the lowest price per pound, because they sell in bulk. Small states sell direct to customers and get more per jar.

Honey production against price received per pound for the 20 individually reported US states, 2025, from USDA NASS

State | Production lb | Price USD per lb

 North Dakota | 30820000 | 1.89

 California | 11025000 | 2.57

 Montana | 10455000 | 2.18

 South Dakota | 8200000 | 2.44

 Minnesota | 5650000 | 2.38

 Michigan | 3738000 | 3.27

 Florida | 3616000 | 3.94

 Louisiana | 3286000 | 2.47

 Idaho | 3016000 | 2.07

 New York | 2912000 | 5.14

 Oregon | 2349000 | 2.09

 Mississippi | 2225000 | 2.32

 Texas | 2160000 | 3.91

 Georgia | 2144000 | 3.68

 Iowa | 2108000 | 5.43

 Washington | 2046000 | 4.36

 Wisconsin | 1500000 | 4.52

 Pennsylvania | 1425000 | 4.33

 Ohio | 765000 | 6.45

 North Carolina | 672000 | 7.99

 How to read these numbers (2 notes)

**Fewer states are listed now**
 More than 40 states were reported individually before 2024. About 20 are now, plus one combined group.

**Channel, not quality**
 Price gaps reflect selling in bulk versus selling retail, not how good the honey is.

 By region

### The national honey price averages seven very different places

 1.50x Gap between the dearest and cheapest region, 1 lb jars

 Read more Close $10.30 to $15.44 a pound, averaged over 20 months

 Bee Culture Magazine asks beekeepers in seven US regions what they charged and prints the answers every month. Over 20 months Region 7 averaged $15.44 a pound for a one pound jar and Region 5 averaged $10.30: a gap of 1.50x that never closed, with even the tightest month leaving the two ends 1.35x apart. Bulk splits differently. Region 6 is middling at the jar and cheapest at the 60 lb pail, so where honey is cheap depends on which honey you mean.

### What the national average is an average of

 The dearest and the cheapest of 7 regions each month, with Bee Culture Magazine's own published average through the middle. The edges change hands: they are the month's extremes, not two fixed regions.

 Source: Bee Culture Monthly Regional Honey Price Report, Bee Culture Magazine, Jan 2025 to Sep 2026. [The report](https://beeculture.com/digital-issues/monthly-regional-honey-price-report/) is a self-reported survey of its Honey Reporter Team, used here as a reference series with attribution. A pound in a jar fetches 2.8 times a pound in a pail, which is why the two panels carry their own scales.

Dearest region, cheapest region and published national average per pound, by month, 1 lb jar, retail and 60 lb pail, light, bulk

Month | Retail cheapest $/lb | Retail national $/lb | Retail dearest $/lb | Bulk cheapest $/lb | Bulk national $/lb | Bulk dearest $/lb

 2025-01 | 9.55 | 11.41 | 15.67 | 2.88 | 4.29 | 5.6

 2025-02 | 9.5 | 11.05 | 18 | 3.69 | 4.3 | 6.11

 2025-03 | 9.86 | 11.53 | 15 | 3.66 | 4.39 | 6.67

 2025-04 | 9 | 12.1 | 19.6 | 2.65 | 4.48 | 6.39

 2025-05 | 9.26 | 11.41 | 15 | 3.76 | 4.24 | 5.98

 2025-06 | 10.26 | 11.6 | 15.8 | 3.75 | 4.37 | 5.54

 2025-07 | 10.29 | 11.75 | 16.25 | 3.63 | 4.27 | 5.83

 2025-08 | 10.35 | 12.42 | 14.03 | 3.53 | 4.24 | 5.45

 2025-09 | 10 | 11.8 | 19 | 3.39 | 4.25 | 5.17

 2025-10 | 10.01 | 11.58 | 14.6 | 3.63 | 4.28 | 5.47

 2025-11 | 9.93 | 11.83 | 13.36 | 2.95 | 4.2 | 4.73

 2025-12 | 9.89 | 12.03 | 15.33 | 3.68 | 4.39 | 5.83

 2026-01 | 10.6 | 12.85 | 17.6 | 3.65 | 4.42 | 5.83

 2026-02 | 10.45 | 12.14 | 15.4 | 3.02 | 4.29 | 5.83

 2026-03 | 10.3 | 12.2 | 16 | 3.36 | 4.21 | 5.42

 2026-04 | 10 | 12.22 | 14 | 3.4 | 4.25 | 5.87

 2026-05 | 10 | 12.55 | 15 | 3.2 | 4.12 | 5.83

 2026-06 | 10.45 | 11.9 | 14.4 | 3.64 | 4.27 | 5.83

 2026-07 | 9.68 | 12.02 | 14.52 | 2.98 | 4.13 | 4.75

 2026-09 | 10 | 12.21 | 14.2 | 3.8 | 4.48 | 5.17

### Where a jar sells dearest

 Average price of a one pound jar sold retail, per pound, by Bee Culture Magazine region.

 Each bar is a region's average over 20 months of Bee Culture Magazine reports. Read the order of the labels against the other chart: Region 5 and Region 6 change places between the two.

1 lb jar, retail: regional mean price per pound, gap to the published national average, and months above it

Region | Mean $/lb | vs national % | Months above national | Months compared

 Region 7 | 15.44 | 29.4 | 20 | 20

 Region 2 | 13.34 | 11.8 | 20 | 20

 Region 6 | 11.98 | 0.4 | 10 | 20

 Region 3 | 11.91 | -0.2 | 12 | 20

 Region 1 | 11.64 | -2.4 | 5 | 20

 Region 4 | 10.37 | -13 | 0 | 20

 Region 5 | 10.3 | -13.7 | 1 | 20

### Where a pail sells dearest

 Average price of a 60 lb pail of light honey sold bulk, per pound, by Bee Culture Magazine region.

 Each bar is a region's average over 20 months of Bee Culture Magazine reports. Read the order of the labels against the other chart: Region 5 and Region 6 change places between the two.

60 lb pail, light, bulk: regional mean price per pound, gap to the published national average, and months above it

Region | Mean $/lb | vs national % | Months above national | Months compared

 Region 2 | 5.4 | 25.8 | 20 | 20

 Region 7 | 5.24 | 22.1 | 19 | 20

 Region 1 | 4.18 | -2.6 | 6 | 20

 Region 5 | 4.16 | -3.1 | 6 | 19

 Region 3 | 4.11 | -4.2 | 3 | 20

 Region 4 | 3.82 | -10.9 | 0 | 20

 Region 6 | 3.68 | -14.3 | 1 | 20

 How to read these numbers (4 notes)

**Beekeepers reporting, not receipts**
 These are beekeepers telling a magazine what they charged, not a record of sales. Nobody publishes how many reported in each region.

**We know which region, not which states**
 The magazine prints its regions as a map picture, so we can show that one region is dearest without being able to name the states in it.

**It moves when the next issue is read**
 This series goes forward when somebody reads the next issue, not automatically. A month we haven't got shows as a gap rather than a guess.

**Price is not profit**
 A region where honey sells for more is not automatically a better place to keep bees. This says nothing about what it costs to produce there.

 Bulk vs retail

### Bulk prices have fallen behind the headline honey price

 $0.75 to $1.06 a pound How far bulk sat below the headline price in 2024-25

 Read more Close it was $0.35 to $0.51 in 2018-20

 The headline USDA price blends retail sales with bulk sales to packers , and bulk alone has grown far more slowly. The gap between the two has roughly doubled since 2018. A beekeeper selling mostly wholesale tracks the lower line, not the headline.

### The bulk price has fallen behind the headline price

 Both lines in today's money. The official honey price blends retail and bulk sales; bulk alone has grown much more slowly.

 A beekeeper selling in bulk to a packer is tracking the lower line, not the headline number.

The USDA NASS annual beekeeper-received price against the AMS quote-weighted wholesale mean, with the gap between them

Year | Headline USD per lb | Bulk USD per lb | Gap USD | Monthly observations

 2018 | 2.83 | 2.18 | 0.65 | 2

 2019 | 2.51 | 2.07 | 0.44 | 11

 2020 | 2.61 | 1.97 | 0.64 | 12

 2021 | 3.15 | 2.29 | 0.86 | 10

 2022 | 3.31 | 2.66 | 0.65 | 11

 2023 | 2.69 | 2.35 | 0.34 | 11

 2024 | 2.47 | 1.71 | 0.76 | 11

 2025 | 3.05 | 1.99 | 1.06 | 5

### Wholesale honey, month by month

 The bulk price of honey, tracked monthly for nearly seven years, in today's money.

 The gaps in the line are months with no reported sales, which happens in deep winter.

Monthly wholesale honey price parsed from USDA AMS National Honey Report issues, with the range of quotes behind each month's mean

Month | Mean USD per lb | Lowest quote USD | Highest quote USD

 2018-11 | 2.11 | 1.32 | 2.94

 2018-12 | 2.23 | 1.33 | 2.88

 2019-01 | 1.64 | 1.32 | 2.75

 2019-02 | no data | no data | no data

 2019-03 | 2.11 | 1.38 | 2.94

 2019-04 | 1.44 | 1.27 | 1.59

 2019-05 | 2.25 | 1.33 | 3.27

 2019-06 | 2.27 | 1.33 | 3.27

 2019-07 | 2.16 | 1.33 | 3.26

 2019-08 | 2.08 | 1.33 | 2.82

 2019-09 | 2.05 | 1.32 | 3.13

 2019-10 | 1.97 | 1.25 | 3.13

 2019-11 | 1.91 | 1.25 | 3.13

 2019-12 | 1.94 | 1.25 | 3.01

 2020-01 | 1.91 | 1.26 | 3.86

 2020-02 | 1.79 | 1.27 | 2.23

 2020-03 | 1.4 | 1.25 | 1.52

 2020-04 | 1.47 | 1.28 | 1.66

 2020-05 | 2.04 | 1.42 | 2.83

 2020-06 | 2.05 | 1.42 | 2.81

 2020-07 | 2 | 1.42 | 3.11

 2020-08 | 2.07 | 1.41 | 3.1

 2020-09 | 1.99 | 1.36 | 2.78

 2020-10 | 1.98 | 1.4 | 3.09

 2020-11 | 2.01 | 1.42 | 3.09

 2020-12 | 1.92 | 1.4 | 2.47

 2021-01 | no data | no data | no data

 2021-02 | no data | no data | no data

 2021-03 | 1.83 | 1.24 | 2.36

 2021-04 | 1.8 | 1.23 | 2.34

 2021-05 | 1.95 | 1.23 | 2.87

 2021-06 | 2.08 | 1.22 | 2.73

 2021-07 | 2.16 | 1.23 | 2.68

 2021-08 | 2.37 | 1.24 | 2.94

 2021-09 | 2.45 | 1.4 | 3.11

 2021-10 | 2.38 | 1.21 | 2.93

 2021-11 | 2.41 | 1.22 | 2.9

 2021-12 | 2.43 | 1.26 | 2.89

 2022-01 | no data | no data | no data

 2022-02 | 2.58 | 1.99 | 3.18

 2022-03 | 2.43 | 1.46 | 3.08

 2022-04 | 2.5 | 2.03 | 3.29

 2022-05 | 2.48 | 1.98 | 3.25

 2022-06 | 2.62 | 1.41 | 3.53

 2022-07 | 2.68 | 1.48 | 3.37

 2022-08 | 2.63 | 1.48 | 3.53

 2022-09 | 2.66 | 1.93 | 3.15

 2022-10 | 2.95 | 2.81 | 3.78

 2022-11 | 2.62 | 1.73 | 3.03

 2022-12 | 2.68 | 1.87 | 3.96

 2023-01 | no data | no data | no data

 2023-02 | 2.45 | 1.41 | 3.21

 2023-03 | 2.56 | 1.66 | 3.73

 2023-04 | 2.48 | 1.26 | 4.24

 2023-05 | 2.16 | 1.3 | 2.96

 2023-06 | 2.25 | 1.15 | 4.22

 2023-07 | 2.21 | 1.05 | 3.69

 2023-08 | 2.35 | 1.05 | 3.41

 2023-09 | 2.53 | 1.94 | 3.66

 2023-10 | 2.55 | 1.05 | 3.24

 2023-11 | 2.14 | 1.05 | 2.99

 2023-12 | 2.07 | 1.05 | 3.15

 2024-01 | no data | no data | no data

 2024-02 | 1.58 | 1.08 | 2.44

 2024-03 | 1.78 | 1.03 | 3.61

 2024-04 | 1.32 | 1.07 | 1.79

 2024-05 | 1.41 | 1.12 | 2.31

 2024-06 | 1.72 | 1.12 | 3.48

 2024-07 | 1.59 | 1.1 | 2.71

 2024-08 | 1.69 | 1.09 | 3.07

 2024-09 | 1.84 | 1.08 | 3.17

 2024-10 | 1.92 | 1.11 | 3.31

 2024-11 | 1.73 | 0.86 | 3.06

 2024-12 | 1.69 | 0.89 | 3.06

 2025-01 | no data | no data | no data

 2025-02 | no data | no data | no data

 2025-03 | no data | no data | no data

 2025-04 | 2.14 | 1.86 | 3.31

 2025-05 | 1.93 | 1.65 | 2.28

 2025-06 | 1.9 | 1.65 | 2.15

 2025-07 | 2.01 | 1.64 | 2.99

 2025-08 | 1.98 | 1.64 | 2.98

 How to read these numbers (2 notes)

**Our own aggregation**
 Built from the individual quotes in the monthly USDA report. USDA doesn't publish it as one number.

**Winter months are missing**
 Nine of 82 months carry no quotes, every one of them between January and March.

 Import volumes

### Weighted by what actually arrives, imported honey is cheaper still

 $1.33 per lb Landed price, weighted by volume, June 2026

 Read more Close across 28.1 million kg from 12 origins

 The quoted average treats a container and a drum alike. Weight each origin by how much actually arrived and the landed price drops: India alone sent 9.6 million kg in June 2026, at $0.85 a pound. The weighted figure is the one a packer is actually comparing against US honey.

### Imported honey, weighted by what actually arrived

 Total declared value over total kilograms landed, per pound, with monthly import volume behind it

 Customs tables from the USDA AMS National Honey Report (CBP ACE). Declared value includes freight and insurance, so this is what importers declared rather than a market quote, and it is not what a packer pays a US beekeeper. The two months whose tables are drawn as images are absent rather than estimated.

Monthly imported honey unit value, computed as total declared value over total kilograms landed, with the volume behind each month

Month | USD per lb | Million kg landed

 2020-04 | 1.01 | 17.5

 2020-05 | 1.06 | 15.2

 2020-06 | 1.06 | 19

 2020-07 | 1.13 | 15.7

 2020-08 | 1.01 | 17.6

 2020-09 | 0.98 | 21.2

 2020-10 | 1.08 | 15.4

 2020-11 | 1.17 | 12.2

 2020-12 | 1.13 | 15.5

 2021-01 | 1.19 | 16.7

 2021-02 | 1.45 | 11.7

 2021-03 | 1.45 | 15.6

 2021-04 | 1.52 | 17

 2021-05 | 1.6 | 15.6

 2021-06 | 1.49 | 22.3

 2021-07 | 1.44 | 21.8

 2021-08 | 1.29 | 29.8

 2021-09 | 1.3 | 23.8

 2021-10 | 1.5 | 21.5

 2021-11 | 1.61 | 12.1

 2021-12 | 1.84 | 6.7

 2022-01 | 2.15 | 6

 2022-02 | 2.02 | 6

 2022-03 | 2.03 | 15.4

 2022-04 | 2.47 | 15.1

 2022-05 | 2.04 | 15.1

 2022-06 | 1.87 | 20.1

 2022-07 | 1.92 | 20.4

 2022-08 | 1.84 | 21.8

 2022-09 | 1.8 | 20.5

 2022-10 | 1.69 | 19.7

 2022-11 | 1.71 | 17.6

 2022-12 | 1.72 | 15.7

 2023-01 | 1.69 | 13.2

 2023-02 | 1.68 | 11.8

 2023-03 | 1.68 | 12.5

 2023-04 | 1.75 | 11.3

 2023-05 | 1.53 | 16.2

 2023-06 | 1.44 | 17.2

 2023-07 | 1.33 | 15.1

 2023-08 | 1.28 | 18

 2023-09 | 1.23 | 22

 2023-10 | 1.33 | 15.7

 2023-11 | 1.19 | 18.7

 2023-12 | 1.14 | 17.5

 2024-01 | 1.28 | 2.7

 2024-02 | 1.1 | 14.3

 2024-03 | 1.23 | 16.2

 2024-04 | 1.1 | 22.9

 2024-05 | 1.24 | 20

 2024-06 | 1.3 | 21.5

 2024-07 | 1.28 | 19.5

 2024-08 | 1.2 | 23.7

 2024-09 | 1.27 | 17.4

 2024-10 | 1.25 | 18.8

 2024-11 | 1.2 | 23.9

 2024-12 | 1.17 | 23.9

 2025-01 | 1.26 | 17.6

 2025-02 | 1.35 | 16.8

 2025-03 | 1.4 | 16.9

 2025-08 | 1.04 | 23.1

 2026-06 | 1.33 | 28.1

 How to read these numbers (2 notes)

**Declared, not quoted**
 This is what importers told customs they paid, shipping included, so it answers a different question from the quoted prices above.

**Not what a shop charges**
 This is bulk honey in drums, blended and packed long before it reaches a shelf.

 Grades and varieties

### Naming the flower earns more at the farm and less at the shop

 $2.36 vs $2.00 Orange Blossom vs mixed flower, paid to beekeepers

 Read more Close 18% for naming the flower

 When packers buy from beekeepers, Orange Blossom honey fetches $2.36 a pound against $2.00 for ordinary mixed-flower, a premium of 18%; Soybean earns 13.5%. On a supermarket shelf the same label sells for less than an unlabelled blend: there "clover" is the cheap default and "wildflower" does the selling. Colour , the older way of grading honey, is worth almost nothing: the 4 grades sit between $1.92 and $2.00 a pound across 2,099 quotes.

### What naming the flower is worth

 Against ordinary mixed-flower honey at the farm gate, and against an unlabelled blend on the shelf

 Farm-gate figures are USDA AMS producer quotes against a $2.00 mixed-flower baseline. The shop figure is supermarket shelf prices, excluding manuka, which trades near four times clover and is a separate market. Both are percentages against their own baseline, because the two levels are four times apart and should not share an axis.

What naming a floral source is worth, as a percentage against that market's own unnamed baseline, at the farm gate and on a supermarket shelf

Floral source | Market | Difference % | USD per lb | Observations

 Orange Blossom | farm | 18 | 2.36 | 84

 Soybean | farm | 13.5 | 2.27 | 43

 Basswood | farm | 10 | 2.2 | 113

 Alfalfa | farm | 10 | 2.2 | 91

 Gallberry | farm | 10 | 2.2 | 63

 Tallow | farm | 0 | 2 | 72

 Named flower, shop shelf | shop | -9.1 | no data | 442

### Colour grade leaves the price alone

 The four grades sit $0.08 apart across 2,099 quotes

 The axis starts at zero on purpose. Zooming in would turn a $0.08 gap into a visible slope and tell the opposite of what the data says. Lighter honey is widely believed to be worth more; packers do not pay for it.

Median price paid to US beekeepers by honey colour grade, from USDA AMS producer quotes

Colour grade | Median USD per lb | Quotes

 Light Amber | 2 | 743

 Amber | 2 | 246

 Extra Light Amber | 1.98 | 519

 White | 1.92 | 591

 How to read these numbers (1 note)

**Different transactions**
 The farm and the shop are different sales, so what matters here is which way each one moves, not the gap between them.

 Colony loss

### Colony loss and bee prices move independently

 55.1%, 55.6%, then 39.9% The two worst years, then the latest

 Read more Close 2023-24 and 2024-25 were the two worst years on record for colony loss, both above 55%, and bee prices rose in each. Losses then fell to 39.9% in 2025-26 while nuc and package prices rose further. Loss rate alone doesn't explain what it costs to restock.

### Colony losses, 2006-07 to 2025-26

 The share of managed colonies that die each year.

 2023-24 and 2024-25 were the two worst years on record. 2025-26 came back down to about the long-run average.

Annual, winter and summer colony loss rates for US managed honey bee colonies, from the US Beekeeping Survey and its Bee Informed Partnership predecessor

Season | Annual loss % | Winter loss % | Summer loss %

 2006-07 | no data | 32 | no data

 2007-08 | no data | 36 | no data

 2008-09 | no data | 29 | no data

 2009-10 | no data | 33.8 | no data

 2010-11 | 36.4 | 30 | no data

 2011-12 | 28.9 | 21.9 | no data

 2012-13 | 45 | 30.6 | 25.3

 2013-14 | 34.2 | 23.7 | 19.8

 2014-15 | 42.1 | 23.1 | 27.4

 2015-16 | 40.5 | 26.9 | 23.6

 2016-17 | 33.2 | 21.1 | 18.1

 2017-18 | 40.1 | 30.7 | 17.1

 2018-19 | 40.7 | 37.7 | 20.5

 2019-20 | 43.7 | 22.2 | 32

 2020-21 | 50.8 | 33.5 | 31.1

 2021-22 | 39 | 24.2 | 23.8

 2022-23 | 48.2 | 37.4 | 24.9

 2023-24 | 55.1 | 37.3 | 30.4

 2024-25 | 55.6 | 40.2 | 28.3

 2025-26 | 39.9 | 30.3 | 23.3

### All four measures on one timeline

 The years line up across all four panels. Gaps are missing data, not zeros.

 Annual colony loss

 Colonies producing honey

 Honey price per lb

 Nuc price

 Nuc prices only begin in 2018, so that panel starts later than the rest. Lines that rise and fall near each other are not evidence that one moves the other.

Annual colony loss, colonies producing honey, honey price per pound and nuc price on a shared timeline from 2010

Year | Annual loss % | Colonies producing honey | Honey USD per lb | Nuc USD

 2010 | 36.4 | 2692000 | 1.619 | no data

 2011 | 28.9 | 2491000 | 1.765 | no data

 2012 | 45 | 2539000 | 1.992 | no data

 2013 | 34.2 | 2641000 | 2.14 | no data

 2014 | 42.1 | 2741000 | 2.17 | no data

 2015 | 40.5 | 2661000 | 2.08 | no data

 2016 | 33.2 | 2780000 | 2.12 | no data

 2017 | 40.1 | 2684000 | 2.2 | no data

 2018 | 40.7 | 2828000 | 2.21 | 110

 2019 | 43.7 | 2812000 | 1.99 | 100

 2020 | 50.8 | 2706000 | 2.1 | 105

 2021 | 39 | 2697000 | 2.65 | 125

 2022 | 48.2 | 2667000 | 3.01 | 129

 2023 | 55.1 | 2532000 | 2.55 | 120

 2024 | 55.6 | 2597000 | 2.41 | 109

 2025 | 39.9 | 2412000 | 3.05 | 130

 How to read these numbers (2 notes)

**Older years are second-hand**
 Seasons before 2018-19 come from press releases about the research, and the research itself was not available.

**Prices have other causes**
 Feed costs, breeder capacity, inflation and weather all move bee prices, and none of them are in this chart.

 Common questions

## Straight answers on what honey sells for

### How much did honey cost 100 years ago?

 White comb honey wholesaled at around 12 cents a pound before the First World War, which is about $5.29 in today's money. That is a wholesale quotation from the trade press, so it sits above what beekeepers themselves were paid. US beekeepers received $3.05 a pound in 2025.

### What is honey selling for per pound?

 U.S. beekeepers received an average of $3.05 per pound in 2025, up about 27% from $2.41 in 2024. That figure blends retail and bulk sales. Beekeepers selling in bulk to packers received closer to $1.99 per pound, and the gap between those two numbers has roughly doubled since 2018.

### Why do beekeepers in some states get paid more per pound?

 Mostly sales channel, not honey quality. In 2025 the range ran from $1.89 per pound in North Dakota to $7.99 in North Carolina. The biggest producing states sell in bulk to packers and cooperatives at low per-pound prices, while low-volume states sell direct to local customers at retail.

### How much money do beekeepers make per hive from honey?

 In 2025 the average colony produced about 48 pounds of honey, which at the national average price works out to roughly $146 of honey revenue per colony before any costs. That is a derived figure, not a surveyed one, and it excludes pollination income, which totalled $225 million nationally.

 This page is about what honey sells for. For what it costs to keep the bees that make it, [see what queens, nucs and packages cost](/swarmed-data/bee-and-honey-prices).

## Where these numbers come from

 Figures come from USDA surveys, the monthly government honey market report, Bee Culture's regional price report, and a century of beekeeping trade journals we read page by page. Switch to **Scientific** at the top of the page to see how many observations each claim rests on, the exact values, and the statistics behind them.

- Swarmed's weekly read of beekeeping storefronts: honey prices by pack size, from jars to pails.
- Supermarket shelf prices read from metro-area grocery stores.
- USDA NASS QuickStats, the annual Bee and Honey Inquiry, 1987 to 2025.
- USDA AMS National Honey Report, monthly, for bulk and import prices by origin, colour and flower.
- USDA Agricultural Statistics yearbooks, and market quotations in the beekeeping trade press from 1874.
- Bee Culture's Monthly Regional Honey Price Report, used with attribution.
- US Beekeeping Survey and the Bee Informed Partnership before it, for colony loss.
- Consumer Price Index (CPI-U), Bureau of Labor Statistics, for every figure in today's money.

 One gap runs through the official figures. USDA surveys operations with five or more colonies that count as a farm under its own definition, and publishes queen, package and nuc prices as a single national average with no state or regional breakdown anywhere in official US data. Hobby beekeepers are outside the survey entirely. That is the gap the weekly seller panel fills in, at small scale.