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Beekeeping
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Tools

What a jar actually earns you

By Dwight Davis, Founder

Updated

On this page4
Four channels, one jar, the same honey. The gap between the best and worst is larger than you would expect, and it is not the gap between selling and not selling.
ChannelPriceCostMargin%
Farmers market, 1 lb$12.00$2.55$9.4579%
Farm stand, 1 lb$10.00$2.55$7.4574%
Wholesale to a shop, 1 lb$6.00$2.55$3.4558%
Bulk to a bakery, per lb$4.50$2.55$1.9543%
Worked at $1.50 per pound of honey as a production cost, a 12 fl oz container, a lid and a label at our observed prices. A one pound jar is a 12 fl oz container, which is explained on what size jar for a pound of honey.

What is in the cost

Container, lid, label, and the honey itself. That is the number people calculate, and it is the easy part because every item has a price on it.

What is missing, and it is most of the real cost

  • Your time. Bottling, labeling, loading, standing at a stall, driving home.
  • The market fee, which is charged whether you sell out or not.
  • Jars that do not sell. A real fraction at a market, carried by the ones that do.
  • Everything upstream. Frames, foundation, treatments, feed, and the comb the bees paid for in honey.

Add those and wholesale at six dollars looks considerably thinner than the table suggests, while the market column has to cover a Saturday.

Reading it

The useful comparison is not channel against channel, it is margin per hour. Wholesale moves a case in one conversation. A market moves the same case across five hours plus setup. Whichever number is larger for you is the answer, and it differs by person rather than by principle.

The published context is on what to charge: USDA put honey at $3.05 a pound in 2025, which is bulk producer price and the floor beneath all of this.

References

USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (March 2026). Honey. nass.usda.gov
Oklahoma State University Extension. Beekeeping Multiproduct Costs and Break-even Calculations. extension.okstate.edu
Figures are worked examples using published averages and our own container prices observed 2026-08-14. Your costs and your market will differ; use this to see the shape, then put your own numbers in.