US average price for a pound of white potatoes: $0.989/lb for September 2026 (BLS, the public shelf-price survey behind the official CPI, published monthly with the CPI), -2.5% vs a year ago. The freshest public line is Nowflation's index of USDA-reported advertised prices for fresh fruits and vegetables (the whole category, not potatoes alone): 60.9 for September 2026, a monthly index built from USDA's weekly grocery feature reports (+1.1% against the same weeks last year). Next BLS update: November 10, 2026, with the October 2026 CPI.
Retail potato prices fell 2.5% over the past year to $0.989/lb (September 2026), and the price is +24% versus five years ago, and 10% below the record high of $1.09/lb set in August 2023. Further along the chain, a 16-ounce bag of potato chips is -4.3% year over year ($6.67/16 oz, September 2026) — the spread between the raw potato and the bag is processing, packaging and marketing. The freshest read, Nowflation's index of USDA-reported advertised prices for fresh fruits and vegetables (the whole category, not potatoes alone), rose 0.2% from August 2026 to September 2026 and sits +1.1% against the same weeks last year.
This page charts the full history of the BLS price back to 2007; Nowflation's index of USDA-reported advertised prices for fresh fruits and vegetables (the whole category, not potatoes alone); and further along the chain, a 16-ounce bag of potato chips. The Build-Your-Cart tool combines these staples into your personal basket, the farm-to-shelf page shows where the retail dollar goes, and the full price history is downloadable as JSON and CSV from the series page.
The US city average is $0.989/lb for September 2026, from the BLS Average Price survey — the shelf prices behind the CPI — -2.5% from a year earlier. The fresher line is Nowflation's index of USDA-reported advertised prices for fresh fruits and vegetables (the whole category, not potatoes alone): 60.9 for September 2026, a monthly index built from USDA's weekly grocery feature reports (+1.1% against the same weeks last year). The BLS figure is monthly, so "today" on this page means the latest published month, not this morning.
Retail potato prices fell 2.5% over the past year to $0.989/lb (September 2026), and the price is +24% versus five years ago, and 10% below the record high of $1.09/lb set in August 2023. Further along the chain, a 16-ounce bag of potato chips is -4.3% year over year ($6.67/16 oz, September 2026) — the spread between the raw potato and the bag is processing, packaging and marketing. The freshest read, Nowflation's index of USDA-reported advertised prices for fresh fruits and vegetables (the whole category, not potatoes alone), rose 0.2% from August 2026 to September 2026 and sits +1.1% against the same weeks last year.
BLS average prices for October 2026 publish with the CPI on November 10, 2026 at 8:30 AM Eastern. The advertised-price index adds a month once the month has ended and USDA's weekly feature reports for it are in; this page republishes every morning with whatever is newest.
BLS (also for a 16-ounce bag of potato chips); USDA AMS weekly grocery feature reports (MyMarketNews), from which Nowflation builds the advertised-price index. Every series is charted with its full history on this page and listed with its source in the open data directory; the public-data series also download there.