A pound of ground coffee cost $9.33 in September 2026, up 2.1% from a year earlier. In 2000 the average was $3.45, about $6.75 in today's dollars.
Adjust any amount for inflation
Every year since 1980
- Price at the time
- In September 2026 dollars
| Year | Average price | In today's dollars |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $8.18 | $8.56 |
| 2024 | $6.32 | $6.79 |
| 2023 | $6.16 | $6.81 |
| 2022 | $5.89 | $6.78 |
| 2021 | $4.71 | $5.85 |
| 2020 | $4.43 | $5.77 |
| 2017 | $4.45 | $6.12 |
| 2016 | $4.39 | $6.17 |
| 2015 | $4.72 | $6.71 |
| 2014 | $4.99 | $7.10 |
| 2013 | $5.45 | $7.89 |
| 2012 | $5.68 | $8.33 |
| 2011 | $5.19 | $7.78 |
| 2010 | $3.91 | $6.04 |
| 2007 | $3.47 | $5.64 |
| 2006 | $3.20 | $5.35 |
| 2005 | $3.26 | $5.63 |
| 2004 | $2.85 | $5.08 |
| 2003 | $2.92 | $5.34 |
| 2002 | $2.92 | $5.48 |
| 2001 | $3.09 | $5.89 |
| 2000 | $3.45 | $6.75 |
| 1999 | $3.43 | $6.93 |
| 1998 | $3.77 | $7.78 |
| 1997 | $4.11 | $8.63 |
| 1996 | $3.43 | $7.37 |
| 1995 | $4.04 | $8.93 |
| 1994 | $3.40 | $7.73 |
| 1993 | $2.47 | $5.77 |
| 1992 | $2.58 | $6.19 |
| 1991 | $2.81 | $6.95 |
| 1990 | $2.97 | $7.65 |
| 1989 | $3.07 | $8.35 |
| 1988 | $2.77 | $7.89 |
| 1987 | $2.79 | $8.26 |
| 1986 | $3.43 | $10.55 |
| 1985 | $2.58 | $8.08 |
| 1984 | $2.58 | $8.36 |
| 1983 | $2.47 | $8.34 |
| 1982 | $2.52 | $8.81 |
| 1981 | $2.53 | $9.36 |
| 1980 | $3.14 | $12.85 |
Yearly averages of monthly U.S. city average prices; a year counts once BLS published at least 10 of its months. Today's dollars use the all-items CPI to September 2026. No average for 2008, 2009, 2018 and 2019: BLS published fewer than 10 months in those years.
Against inflation
| Since | Coffee prices | All prices |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | up 170% | up 96% |
| 1980 | up 197% | up 309% |
Since 2000, coffee prices outpaced inflation; since 1980, coffee prices lagged behind it.
Biggest yearly jumps
- 1994: up 37.6% from 1993 ($2.47 to $3.40)
- 1986: up 33.0% from 1985 ($2.58 to $3.43)
- 2011: up 32.9% from 2010 ($3.91 to $5.19)
Minutes of work
At the average hourly wage of production and nonsupervisory workers, a pound of ground coffee took 27.6 minutes of work in 1980 ($6.84 an hour) and 17.2 minutes in September 2026 ($32.54 an hour).
What moved coffee prices
Coffee's biggest jumps followed trouble in Brazil, the top U.S. supplier. BLS said a frost in Brazil was largely responsible for a record rise in coffee prices in 1994, when the average price here rose 37.6%, and that the 1986 increase (+33.0%) came mostly from unusually dry weather in Brazil's growing areas. The 32.9% rise in 2011 came as U.S. import coffee prices set a record. The 19.6% drop in 1981 came as world supplies remained abundant. In 2025 the average reached $8.18 a pound, and that October retailers in the Federal Reserve's Cleveland District reported tariff-driven cost increases on coffee. Ground coffee was up 2.1% over the year to September 2026.
Reviewed October 17, 2026. Sources:
- BLS: Beyond the Numbers, "Historic coffee prices percolated after a bitter global supply crisis"
- BLS: Monthly Labor Review, "Consumer prices in 1994" (June 1995, scanned PDF, p. 32)
- BLS: data series APU0000717311
- BLS: Monthly Labor Review, "Sharp drop in energy prices holds inflation in check during 1986" (May 1987)
- BLS: Monthly Labor Review, "Price changes in 1981: widespread slowing of inflation" (April 1982)
- Federal Reserve Board: Beige Book, October 2025, Cleveland District
Sources
- BLS series APU0000717311: Ground coffee (U.S. city average, to September 2026)
- BLS Consumer Price Index, all items (CPI-U)
- BLS average price data and average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers (CEU0500000008)
- How we use these figures: our methodology
General information, not financial advice.