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Ingredient prices

Butter price per pound

Grade AA butter, US city average. Rarely the headline cost on a plate and frequently the one missing from the recipe card entirely.

Also known as grade AA butter, salted butter, or unsalted butter.

October 2026 · US city average

$3.96

per lb

1 month
−1.5%
3 months
+3.7%
12 months
−17.3%

2024-01 to 2026-09

5.003.82Jan '24Sep '26

What the last 12 months did to a plate

Representative portions and volumes — substitute your own. The point isn't the exact figure, it's that a −17.3% move on one ingredient turns into a specific annual number on a specific dish, and that number is usually larger than it feels.

DishUsesCost todayChange per platePer year at 142/wk
Beurre blanc (1.5 oz portion)1 oz$0.25−$0.05−$382.12
Bread service0.75 oz$0.19−$0.04−$1,251.32
Pan-finished steak0.5 oz$0.12−$0.03−$158.77
Croissant (per unit)1.4 oz$0.35−$0.07−$1,130.22

Volumes differ per row — each is a plausible weekly count for that dish. Computed from the BLS series above; your supplier price will differ by region, volume and grade.

What moves this price

  • Milk fat supply. Butterfat availability drives it more than fluid milk volume does; a strong cheese market competes for the same fat.
  • Export demand. International butterfat demand pulls on domestic supply and can move price with no domestic cause at all.
  • Q4 baking demand. A real and predictable annual peak — plan menus and contracts around it.

Buying notes

  • For a proposed baking substitution, compare butter versus margarine cost per acceptable bake, including dosage, yield and rejected pieces.
  • Butter is the classic Q factor item — used everywhere, costed almost nowhere. Most kitchens fold it into a per-cover allowance, and most of those allowances were set years ago.
  • The bread service is where butter cost hides in volume. At 620 covers a week, three quarters of an ounce each is roughly 29 lb a week nobody has on a recipe card.
  • Butterfat percentage varies between standard (80%) and European-style (82–86%). The higher-fat product costs more per pound and behaves differently in pastry — treat them as different ingredients, not a substitution.

This is the national average. Yours is the one that matters.

Review a supplier invoice and the affected recipe in Marji to check your own plate cost. Quantities, units, usable yields and ingredient costs need review before a margin can guide a price decision. Ongoing costing starts with a free 14-day trial, with no card required; continued costing access requires a paid plan.

Start a 14-day costing trial →See it in the index

When a price change means a new menu price, a free QR menu lets you update it without reprinting.

To cost a recipe with your own purchase price and usable yield, compare free recipe costing apps and their plan limits. The guide includes a calculation you can check before entering your full menu.

Recent ingredient cost and pricing guides

Put market changes in context, check a dish with your own costs, and decide how to explain a menu price change.

Related terms