Originally posted on December 2, 2024. 2024 has been a bountiful year for American turkey production with top producer Minnesota rearing 34 million birds, leading to an affordable Thanksgiving.

Turkeys are the main source of meat for the traditional holiday that takes place each final Thursday of November. 

A 15-pound bird cost $35.30 in the state this November, generally cheaper than the federal average of November 2023 at $35.40.

Outside Minnesota, Americans had generally a cheap turkey-based Thanksgiving as the national median in 2024 was at $31.16 per bird. This was $4 cheaper than 2023’s $35.40 median.

A family has been able to access turkey meat for at least $2.08 a pound this holiday in comparison with $2.36 in 2023.

The above pricing data was courtesy of FinanceBuzz, whose team combed across the states for prices across independent retail chains.

All this is thanks to an increment in production in tandem with a reduction in Avian flu cases. Farmers have been implementing bio-security routines such as using turkey laser to prevent contact with wildlife to reduce the spread.

There has also been a lot of demand for meat in and outside Thanksgiving. According to Ashley Kohls, executive director of the Minnesota Turkey Grower’s Association, there is growing consumption even on the peripheries of the holiday.

Small markets in Minnesota are the drivers of this growing consumption as they stock the live birds and their meat first.

Indeed, one turkey production enterprise known as Ferndale Market estimated that in November they would market 45,000 to 50,000 turkeys.  

As if that is not one too many, farmers affiliated to the market produce 150,000 birds per marketing year. 

Apparently, the majority of the sales are in form of turkey cuisine other than whole that include dressed meat.

In short, as the holiday ends so has Minnesota ended its financial year with a turkey production boom. To learn more about turkeys in this state of many lakes and the United States as a whole, read the statistics below.

U.S. and Minnesota Turkey Production Statistics

Turkey production in the United States is an essential part of the culinary culture especially around Thanksgiving and Christmas. Minnesota usually ranks either the first or second biggest production hub together with North Carolina. In 2022, for instance, the two states led with 1,000,000,000 pounds for North Carolina and 965,700,000 pounds for Minnesota. In terms of live birds, Minnesota led North Carolina in 2023 with 38,000,000 birds versus 29,000,000. The total American turkey head count in 2023, on the other hand, was at 218,000,000.

How high is monthly production in pounds of turkeys for slaughter in Minnesota? 

Minnesota had between 74,656,000 pounds at the minimum and 107,217,000 pounds at the maximum of turkeys slaughtered per month across 2023. This according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS)

How many turkeys are slaughtered in the United States per year? 

In 2023, the total slaughtered turkeys in the United States totaled 6,985,916,000 pounds while in 2022 they had been at 6,669,746,000 pounds. The highest turkey meat production year in the past two decades was in 2007 at 7,566,315,000 pounds.

What is the average national price of turkeys per LB? 

According to the NASS, live turkeys in the U.S. averaged $0.764 per pound at the farm gate in 2023. This was a little higher than 2022 when the price had averaged at $0.736 per pound.