How much does Thanksgiving dinner cost per person?

About $5.52 per person for the classic menu ($55.18 for 10), per the Farm Bureau's 2025 survey. The expanded menu (adding ham, Russet potatoes, and green beans) runs about $7.71 per person ($77.09 for 10).

Which region has the cheapest Thanksgiving dinner?

The South: the 2025 survey priced the classic menu at $50.01 there, about $5.00 per person, versus $61.75 in the West (about $6.18 per person). The Midwest ($54.38) and Northeast ($60.82) sit in between.

How much turkey per person should I buy?

Plan 1.6 pounds of raw turkey per person: a 16-pound bird serves 10. For 24 guests that is 38.4 pounds, or two to three birds.

Is the per-person cost accurate for a small table?

Roughly, with one caveat: a table of 4 still needs most of a turkey, so the bird alone is $5.38 per person before a single side. The $5.52 rate is most accurate for 8 to 16 guests; small tables should buy a smaller bird or a turkey breast.

Home › Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Calculator › Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Per Person

The Thanksgiving ledger · Table No. 35

Thanksgiving Dinner Cost Per Person

The $55.18 menu divided by ten chairs: $5.52 a plate. Where each dollar goes, how the regions differ, and why small tables break the math.

Filed October 23, 2026 · figures checked against 2026 sources

The headline number

The American Farm Bureau Federation's 2025 survey prices a classic Thanksgiving dinner for ten at $55.18. Divide by ten and the headline per-person cost is $5.52 — the cheapest sit-down holiday meal in America, cheaper than a fast-food combo in most cities, and down from $5.81 in 2024. The expanded menu (ham, Russet potatoes, green beans added) runs $77.09 for ten, or $7.71 per person.

Per-person is the right unit for this meal. The menu is built for ten, but almost nobody hosts exactly ten, and the cost scales almost linearly: the survey's quantities are "sufficient for ten servings," and the calculator on this site prices other guest counts at the same $5.52-per-person rate (16 guests: $88.29; 6 guests: $33.11). The one item that does not scale perfectly is the turkey — a 16-pound bird is the survey's unit, and small tables waste more of it — but for planning purposes the per-person rate holds.

Where the $5.52 goes

Not all plates are equal. The turkey is $2.15 per person — 39 percent of the plate. The sides and fixings (stuffing, rolls, sweet potatoes, peas, cranberries, veggie tray, misc. ingredients) run about $2.06 per person combined. Dessert — pumpkin pie mix, two crusts, whipping cream, and the milk that goes with everything — is roughly $1.31 per person. That is the anatomy of the cheapest holiday plate in the country: two-fifths bird, two-fifths sides, one-fifth pie and dairy.

The regional per-person spread

The same plate costs different money depending on the state it is served in. Applying the survey's regional totals to the per-person rate: the South pays about $5.00 a person, the Midwest $5.44, the Northeast $6.08, and the West $6.18. The $1.18 South-to-West gap per person is the whole story of regional grocery inflation in one plate: produce and dairy, the survey's fastest risers, vary far more by region than the nationally-distributed turkey does.

The boxed insight

Here is what $11.74 looks like per person: the West's $61.75 classic menu versus the South's $50.01 is a 23.5 percent regional premium — but per plate it is only $1.17. Regional price gaps feel abstract as totals and trivial as per-person numbers, which is exactly why hosts should budget per person and shop the total. The same menu, the same ten chairs, $1.17 a plate apart between the cheapest and priciest regions in the country. Geography moves the needle less than the choice between frozen and fresh turkey ($11.30 on the bird alone).

Per-person across guest counts

Because the menu scales linearly in the calculator, the per-person cost is nearly constant — but the real world adds friction at the extremes. A table of 4 still needs a whole turkey (the survey's unit is a 16-pound bird), so the turkey cost per person climbs: $21.50 of bird across 4 people is $5.38 a person in turkey alone, nearly the entire 10-person per-plate total. At the other end, a table of 24 needs 38.4 pounds of turkey — two or three birds — and the per-person rate holds beautifully, $5.52 a head, because the waste ratio falls as the crowd grows.

The practical takeaway: the $5.52 figure is most accurate for 8 to 16 guests. Below 8, buy a smaller bird or a turkey breast and beat it. Above 20, you will match it or beat it, because bulk is kind to big tables.

How the per-person cost moved over time

The per-person lens makes the survey's history readable. In 2021 the classic was $53.31 for ten ($5.33/person). The 2022 spike took it to $64.05 ($6.41/person) — the only year the plate broke $6. Three years of declines brought it to $55.18 ($5.52/person) in 2025. The plate has fallen 14 percent from the peak and sits 3.5 percent above where it started. Adjusted for the 20-odd percent of cumulative food inflation since 2021, the Thanksgiving plate has quietly gotten cheaper in real terms for three years running.

Counting kids: the serving-size footnote

The survey's "serves 10" means ten adult servings. Real tables include children, and children do not eat 1.6 pounds of turkey. A practical adjustment used by meal planners: count each child under 10 as half a serving for the protein and sides. A table of 6 adults and 4 young children is really an 8-serving table for the turkey math — a 13-pound bird instead of 16 — which trims the turkey line from $21.50 to about $17.47 and the whole classic menu from $55.18 to roughly $51. A table heavy with teenagers goes the other way: count them as full servings, or 1.25 for the sides. The calculator's linear scaling assumes adult servings throughout; adjust the guest count down for a kid-heavy table and the per-person number stays honest.

The expanded menu, per person

The expanded menu's $77.09 for ten is $7.71 a person — $2.19 more per plate than the classic. That $2.19 buys the ham, the mashed potatoes, and the green beans: effectively a second main and two more sides. Per-person, the expansion is the cheapest way to add variety to the table, because the ham stretches across all ten plates at about $1.40 a person (the $21.91 add-on is dominated by the boneless ham). For tables over twelve, the expanded menu's per-person cost actually falls below the classic's, because the second protein eliminates the turkey-waste problem at the edges of the guest count — no single bird has to stretch.

What the $5.52 does not buy

The per-person figure covers the 1986 basket only: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls, peas, cranberries, veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, milk. It does not cover a second pie, appetizers, wine or beer, coffee, or the green bean casserole half the country considers mandatory. A realistic per-person budget for an actual 2026 table is $8 to $12 once the host's additions land — still the cheapest holiday entertaining per head by a wide margin, but not $5.52. Add your extras as editable lines in the calculator above and watch the per-person number move.

Per-person questions

How much does Thanksgiving dinner cost per person?: About $5.52 per person for the classic menu ($55.18 for 10), per the Farm Bureau's 2025 survey. The expanded menu (adding ham, Russet potatoes, and green beans) runs about $7.71 per person ($77.09 for 10).
Which region has the cheapest Thanksgiving dinner?: The South: the 2025 survey priced the classic menu at $50.01 there, about $5.00 per person, versus $61.75 in the West (about $6.18 per person). The Midwest ($54.38) and Northeast ($60.82) sit in between.
How much turkey per person should I buy?: Plan 1.6 pounds of raw turkey per person: a 16-pound bird serves 10. For 24 guests that is 38.4 pounds, or two to three birds.
Is the per-person cost accurate for a small table?: Roughly, with one caveat: a table of 4 still needs most of a turkey, so the bird alone is $5.38 per person before a single side. The $5.52 rate is most accurate for 8 to 16 guests; small tables should buy a smaller bird or a turkey breast.