All-milk price

Definition

The all-milk price is USDA NASS’s estimate of the average price farmers received for all milk sold to plants and dealers in a month, in $/cwt (cwt = 100 lb). It covers milk of every class and every use, at the average butterfat test for that month and state (about 4.3% for the US in 2025–26, not the 3.5% of class prices). NASS publishes it in the monthly Agricultural Prices report for the US and the 24 major dairy states. The US figure is a production-weighted average of the state prices.

It is a survey-based average of what farmers were paid, not a formula price. That sets it apart from:

Class prices (Class I–IV): federal order minimum prices that handlers must pay for milk, by use. See federal order class prices.
Uniform (blend) price: one federal order’s pooled minimum price at standard test. See milk pooling.
Mailbox price: USDA AMS’s estimate of the net price farmers received after marketing deductions (hauling, co-op dues, promotion, retains), by reporting area.

The all-milk price is a gross price: total gross receipts ÷ lb sold × 100. It is taken before deductions for hauling and stop charges, advertising and promotion, and co-op dues. It includes premiums and discounts for quality, quantity and other reasons, but excludes hauling subsidies (NASS Agricultural Prices table notes and NASS survey guide). That is why it usually sits above the mailbox price.

Timing and revisions

NASS publishes a month’s all-milk price in the Agricultural Prices report released near the end of the following month. For example, the April 2026 price ($20.80/cwt) came out on May 29, 2026. Revisions are not on a fixed monthly cycle. NASS revises during annual market-year estimation, after the five-year Census, or when later information arrives, and publishes the changes in later issues. FSA uses the published full-month figure in each Dairy Margin Coverage margin.

How to pull it in DC305

DC305 doesn’t hold the all-milk price or any market price. Get it from:

USDA NASS Agricultural Prices (monthly), or NASS Quick Stats (commodity “Milk”, price received in $/cwt).
USDA FSA’s DMC margin tables, which list the all-milk price used in each month’s margin.

DC305 supplies only the herd side of a comparison: cow counts and test-day milk per cow. For a farm’s own price, use shipped milk and dollars from the milk check (see milk check), not DC305 milk weights.

Typical range

Herd context: US national average, all breeds, all housing; nominal $/cwt.

Period (Jan 2019–Sep 2026)	US all-milk price
Lowest month	$13.60/cwt (May 2020)
Middle half of months	~$18.50–$22.00/cwt
Highest month	$27.30/cwt (May 2022); 2022 averaged about $25.60

Values are the monthly US all-milk prices in the FSA DMC margin tables, which come from NASS Agricultural Prices (as of November 2026). Simple averages of the monthly prices ran about $18.30–$18.70 in 2019–2021, $25.60 in 2022, $20.50 in 2023, $22.60 in 2024 and $21.20 in 2025.

State all-milk prices differ from the US figure by a dollar or more per cwt, mainly because of class utilization (fluid-heavy states run higher) and component tests (high-test states run higher).
The all-milk price usually runs above the mailbox price by roughly $0.50–$1.50/cwt, about the size of typical marketing deductions.

Common mistakes

Treating it as the farm’s milk price. It’s a national or state average. A farm’s own price depends on components, quality premiums, co-op and deductions.
Comparing it to a mailbox or milk-check net price. All-milk is gross, mailbox is net. Compare like with like.
Comparing it to Class III or the uniform price. Those are formula minimums at standard test; all-milk is a survey of prices actually paid at actual test.
Using a figure without checking for revisions. NASS can revise past months in later issues; note the issue a value came from.
Mixing nominal and inflation-adjusted series when comparing decades.