{"id":491591,"date":"2026-06-20T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/?p=491591"},"modified":"2026-06-19T15:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T21:14:18","slug":"beef-hamburgers-prices-inflation-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradosun.com\/2026\/06\/20\/beef-hamburgers-prices-inflation-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Working: Why hamburgers cost more today"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Tamara Chuang<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business\/Technology Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Quick links<\/strong>: Ground beef vs. income growth<\/a> | Supply chain shrinkage<\/a> | Reader poll results<\/a> | $250 bonus for young Denver workers<\/a> | A $500k quantum grant<\/a> | Rent control settlement<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beef rules! Or at least it was one of the top contenders in the recent What\u2019s Working reader poll<\/a> about what items cost more nowadays. Coffee, insurance and \u201ceverything\u201d were also frequently mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in particular, lean ground beef or hamburgers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTen dollars per pound for hamburger is crazy,\u201d said Painless Wolf, who lives in Gardner, northwest of Trinidad, and recalls paying closer to $3.75 a pound for the \u201c90\/10\u201d in 2016. \u201cWe definitely buy less of everything. Ground beef included.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the USDA beef report<\/a>, which tracks weekly grocery advertisements, a pound of organic 90% lean ground beef averaged $11.99 this week. The conventional 90% version was $7.42. But even the cheaper 70% lean ground beef was more expensive, at $4.99, up from $4.67 a year<\/a> ago. That\u2019s a 76% jump from five years ago when the budget-friendly fatty beef averaged $2.84<\/a>, based on the same USDA data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n