How Much Honey Does America Make? A Data Deep Dive

According to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, the United States produced approximately 125 million pounds of honey in 2023, harvested from roughly 2.71 million managed colonies spread across the country. That works out to about 49 pounds of honey per colony per year — a number that has been gradually declining over the past two decades as colony health challenges mount and forage quality diminishes in intensive agricultural regions.

To put 125 million pounds in perspective, that is roughly 0.37 pounds per American per year from domestic sources alone. Americans actually consume closer to 1.5 pounds of honey per person annually, which means domestic production covers barely a quarter of national demand. The rest arrives by tanker and drum from overseas — a topic we will get to shortly.

The total value of US honey production in 2023 hovered around $335 million at an average price of $2.68 per pound. That sounds like a lot until you compare it to a single large corn harvest in Iowa. Honey, by commodity standards, is a tiny industry. Its outsized cultural presence far exceeds its economic footprint — at least on paper.

Honey prices vary dramatically depending on color, floral source, and whether it is sold wholesale or retail. The USDA tracks honey prices by color grade — water white, extra white, white, extra light amber, light amber, and amber — with lighter colors generally commanding higher prices because of their milder flavor and broader consumer appeal.

In 2023, the average retail price of honey in the US was approximately $9.19 per pound for domestically produced table honey, while the co-op and wholesale price hovered closer to $2.68 per pound. The markup between wholesale and retail reflects processing, packaging, distribution, and the premium consumers pay for branded or specialty honey.

Imported honey tells a different story. The US imported approximately 446 million pounds of honey in 2023 — more than three times what it produced domestically. Top suppliers included Vietnam, India, Brazil, Argentina, and Ukraine. Import prices averaged well below domestic wholesale, which has fueled ongoing concerns about "honey laundering" — the practice of transshipping adulterated or mislabeled honey through intermediary countries to avoid tariffs originally imposed on Chinese honey in 2001.

Here is the number that reframes the entire honey industry: the economic value of honeybee pollination in the US is estimated at $15 to $20 billion per year. That dwarfs the $335 million value of the honey itself by a factor of 50 or more. Honey is not the product — it is the byproduct. Pollination is the real business.

Every year, roughly 1.7 million colonies are trucked to California between January and March to pollinate the state's 1.3 million acres of almond orchards. Beekeepers earn $200 to $250 per colony for this service — far more than the same colony would generate in honey alone. Almonds alone account for approximately $700 million in pollination fees paid to beekeepers annually.

After almonds, the same colonies may be moved to pollinate apples in Washington, blueberries in Maine, cranberries in Wisconsin, or watermelons in Georgia. A single colony might travel 10,000 miles in a year, visiting four or five states. The migratory beekeeping circuit is one of the most logistically complex operations in American agriculture, and it is almost entirely invisible to the average consumer who just sees a jar on a grocery shelf.

This hidden economy is why colony losses matter far beyond honey supply. When the Bee Informed Partnership reported 48.2% colony losses in 2022–23, the concern was not primarily about honey prices — it was about whether there would be enough bees to pollinate the crops that feed the country. Without managed honeybees, the USDA estimates that production of almonds, apples, blueberries, cherries, and dozens of other crops would drop by 80% or more.