M. Shahbandeh
Research expert covering agriculture & FMCG
U.S. cheese market - statistics & facts
Over half of the cheese in the United States comes from Wisconsin with over three million metric tons of cheese produced there every year. In fact, the United States is one of the major cheese-producing countries worldwide. In 2023, the U.S. was ranked second with over six million metric tons of cheese manufactured, following the European Union with over 10 million metric tons of cheese production that year.
The cottage cheese category looks promising
In the U.S. retail sector, cottage cheese sales grew fastest in both branded and private label segments. Private label dominated the cottage cheese category holding by far the highest sales value as of 2024. The cream cheese category, however, was dominated by the branded segment with about 70 percent of the market share in 2023. Unsurprisingly, Philadelphia brand had the highest dollar sales selling over twice more than private lable cream cheese as of 2024. Among dairy alternatives, the plant-based cheese category did not gain much value with over 200 million U.S dollars sales in 2023.Cheese consumption grew despite the high prices
Over the past ten years, U.S. per capita consumption of cheese has increased by over five pounds. The average consumer in the U.S. ate about 42 pounds of cheese in 2022. That year, Americans consumed about 16.2 pounds of American cheese per capita and 16.14 pounds of Italian cheese per capita. Demand for specialty cheese has been also growing among Americans, especially, younger generations. Cheese prices reached their highest in 2022 at over two U.S. dollars per pound, but it went down and was stable in the past two years. Cheese prices in the U.S. are projected to decrease even further in the future.
