Bacon rides the price of the pork-belly cut, not the whole hog.
A pound of sliced bacon averages $6.71 — about 12% below its October 2022 record and −3.9% versus last year.
Where bacon prices stand
Bacon has eased from its peak but is still one of the priciest staples in the cart: a pound of sliced bacon averaged $6.71 in May 2026, −3.9% from a year earlier and −1.7% from the prior month — leaving it about 12% below the record $7.61 it reached in October 2022.
What drives bacon prices
Bacon is cured pork belly, and the belly is a single cut whose price often moves on its own: when demand for bacon outruns the rest of the carcass, belly prices can jump even while overall pork is calm. Underneath that, bacon still rides the broader hog market — how many animals come to slaughter and the cost of corn and soybean-meal feed — and curing and slicing add a processing margin on top of the raw belly. That stack of premiums is why bacon sits well above most other staples per pound.
A real shelf price
Every figure here is the BLS average retail price for sliced bacon, tracked monthly since January 1980 — an actual dollar amount shoppers paid, not a wholesale belly quote or a forecast.
Frequently asked questions
How much does bacon cost right now?
Sliced bacon averaged $6.71 per pound at the U.S. city average in May 2026, per BLS CPI Average Price Data.
Why is bacon so expensive?
Bacon is cured pork belly — a single cut that commands its own premium when bacon demand runs high, on top of hog-market and feed costs plus a curing margin. Bacon is −3.9% year over year as of May 2026.
Is bacon cheaper than last year?
As of May 2026 bacon is −3.9% versus a year ago and about 12% below its October 2022 record of $7.61.
Explore bacon prices
See the full price history and how bacon tracks the pork-belly market.