The best time to buy cherries, from 13 years of U.S. government shelf prices.
Worth timing
Buy cherries in July if you can.
Over 2007–2019, cherries in July ran a typical 10% below that season’s average price, and July was below it in 11 of 12 years. June is the dearest month (10% above): a 20-point swing.
Sweet cherries have a short early-summer season. BLS only finds them in enough stores in June and July, so the comparison here is within those two months.
Typical price each month compared with that season’s average, 2007–2019. The bar is the median year; the thin line spans the middle half of years.
| Month | Typical vs trend | Middle half of years | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | not in enough stores to price | ||
| February | not in enough stores to price | ||
| March | not in enough stores to price | ||
| April | not in enough stores to price | ||
| May | not in enough stores to price | ||
| June | +10% | +6% to +15% | 12 |
| July | −10% | −15% to −6% | 12 |
| August | not in enough stores to price | ||
| September | not in enough stores to price | ||
| October | not in enough stores to price | ||
| November | not in enough stores to price | ||
| December | not in enough stores to price | ||
BLS stopped publishing a national average price for cherries after July 2019 (the last one was $3.23 a pound), so this pattern covers 2007–2019. Seasons like this come from harvests and holidays and change slowly, but treat the size of the swing as history.
Each row is one year; the dot is the month cherries were cheapest relative to that year’s trend. July was the single cheapest month in 11 of 12 years, and the month next to it in 1 more.
| Year | Cheapest month |
|---|---|
| 2019 | July |
| 2018 | July |
| 2017 | July |
| 2016 | July |
| 2015 | July |
| 2013 | July |
| 2012 | July |
| 2011 | July |
| 2010 | July |
| 2009 | July |
| 2008 | June |
| 2007 | July |
What else is cheap in July: what’s cheap in July. Fruit: strawberries (Jul), grapes (Sep), navel oranges (Apr), grapefruit (Mar), lemons (Mar), bananas (Dec), peaches (Aug). All 39 foods: the grocery price calendar.
July. Over 2007–2019 the U.S. average price of cherries in July was typically 10% below that season's average, and below it in 11 of 12 years. June is the dearest month (10% above).
June, typically 10% above that season's average.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data (U.S. city average, not seasonally adjusted), the shelf prices BLS collects every month for the Consumer Price Index, through October 2026. Seasonal pattern and every number on this page computed by Online List Maker; how.