Lots of stores are selling pumpkins in September and October, and they’re all pretty similar in terms of shape, size, and quality. But if all else is equal, that means we can now be picky and find out who has the best pumpkin prices.
I grabbed my trusty bathroom scale and went from store to store in the Boise, Idaho area, with the ultimate goal of finding out how much stores are charging for pumpkins near me. We now know the cheapest place to buy pumpkins, and we’ll help you sort through the sometimes confusing price structures that can hide a bad deal.
Spoiler alert: If you’re getting charged more than $0.40/lb, you’re paying too much. But you can do even better than that.
While your prices may vary from mine based on your location, generally speaking, this pumpkin price guide will help you know how to spot a good deal on your next Jack-o’-lantern, and which stores you’ll want to skip.
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Pumpkins near you will be either priced per pound or for one flat rate.
When you’re comparing pumpkin prices at various stores, it’s a little tricky, since some stores charge you by the pound, and some charge you the same price no matter what size your pumpkin is. That’s why I shamelessly drug my bathroom scale around town to find the average weight of pumpkins at each store I visited. So, regardless of how the store prices pumpkins, I’ll make it easy to see who has the cheapest pumpkins near you.
Stores that Charge Per Pound for Pumpkins
- Albertsons: $0.49/lb
- WinCo: $0.28/lb
Stores that Charge a Flat Price for Pumpkins
- Aldi: $4.35
- Costco: $7.99
- Home Depot: $7.98 and $9.98
- Kroger: $6.00
- Lowe’s: Between $4 and $16
- Trader Joe’s: $4.99
- Walmart: $4.58 and $8.88
- Whole Foods: $5 and $7.50
Generally speaking, you’ll want to buy smaller pumpkins per pound, and larger pumpkins at a flat rate.
If you’re looking for a table decoration pumpkin or a Jack-o’-lantern for a little kid, a smaller pumpkin in the 10-lb range or less might be what you’re looking for. In that case, you’ll want to find stores that charge by the pound. Anybody who charges a flat rate for these smaller carving pumpkins is almost certainly ripping you off. We’ll prove that later in this article.
Now, while a 30-pounder is tough to find, a 20-pounder isn’t, and if that’s what you’re after, you’ll want to pick a store that charges a flat rate for their pumpkins, which would reduce your overall cost-per-pound.
OK, here are the pumpkins, ranked from best deal to worst:
1. The cheapest pumpkins near me are at WinCo Foods for $0.28/lb.
If you don’t have a WinCo in your area (they’re in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington) you’re missing out.
The no-frills, bag-your-own-groceries warehouse store continually offer the lowest prices on carving pumpkins at just $0.28/lb. They’ve got a wide variety of sizes available, too. I easily found 6.5-lb pumpkins and 14-lb pumpkins. A 14-pounder would cost you less than $4.00!
2. Kroger has pumpkins for $6 each, which works out to about $0.35/lb.
CLAIM YOUR $2.99 PUMPKIN COUPON FROM KROGER HERE
Kroger and all of their affiliated stores are selling medium-carving pumpkins for $6 each. I found varying sizes and weights of pumpkins, between 12.5 lbs and 21 lbs. On average, they were about 17 lbs. Here’s why that matters.
If you can find one of the big ones, you can end up walking away with one of the best prices around. A 21-lb pumpkin at $6.00 would cost you $0.29/lb. But the smaller pumpkins, like the 12.5-pounder I found, would end up being $0.48/lb. The average 17-lb pumpkin would be a respectable $0.35/lb. But the bigger the better at Kroger.
In late October 2023, you could buy one carving pumpkin at just $2.99 each. This offer was limited to three redemptions in a single transaction. You’d need to clip this digital coupon to claim the offer, which you can find in-app at Kroger or on Kroger’s site. This coupon was limited to one per household. We think this offer will come back in 2024.
3. Aldi pumpkins are a flat $3.99, or about $0.36 per pound
Aldi pumpkins are on the small side this year… averaging 11 lbs a piece. And maybe that’s why the flat price this year is actually lower than last year’s $4.99 price. Based on the pumpkins I weighed, the average Aldi pumpkin costs $0.36 per pound.
4. Meijer sells pumpkins for $4.99 each, which means you’ll pay $0.36/lb on average.
The pumpkins at Meijer average about 13 lbs, but I found a range of between 10 and 17 lbs, so they’ve got the medium sizes covered.
Now, thanks to the sale price of $4.99 per pumpkin (reg. $5.99), you can actually get really close to WinCo’s price when you get pumpkins on the larger end of the spectrum. On average, though, you’ll end up paying around $0.36/lb.
5. Whole Foods has surprisingly cheap pumpkin prices, averaging $0.36-$0.40/lb.
We used to tell people to avoid Whole Foods for pumpkins — but not anymore.
Whole Foods sells carving pumpkins for $5 apiece, and large pumpkins for $7.50 apiece. The regular carving pumpkins averaged 12.5 lbs each, which comes out to $0.40/lb! And the jumbos were definitely some of the biggest we’ve seen, averaging 21 lbs each. That $7.50 price means you’d pay $0.36/lb on average.
6. H-E-B pumpkins cost $7.98, but based on their size you’re paying around $0.43/lb on average.
Although H-E-B has a lot of pumpkins on the larger side, you’re not going to find the best deals there. Their carving pumpkins cost $7.98, and I found pumpkins weighing between 16.5 and 20.5 lbs. That means you can expect to find around an 18-pounder.
What does that mean cost-wise? You’ll spend between $0.39 and $0.48 per pound (or $0.43/lb on average). It’s in the middle of the pack.
7. Costco’s 20-lb pumpkins are $7.99 each, making them $0.40/lb.
It’s easy to find a 20-pounder in the pumpkin bins at Costco. That’s the average weight of the pumpkins they had at my store (and the smallest one I found was still 17.5 lbs!). For the flat rate of $7.99, that means you’ll easily be able to get a $0.40/lb price.
8. Trader Joe’s pumpkins cost $4.99 each, but that shakes out to about $0.49/lb.
Got five bucks? Then the price is right at Trader Joe’s. Now, the name of the game here is finding the biggest pumpkin you can, since you’re paying a flat rate. But at my Trader Joe’s, I didn’t find anything bigger than 12.5 lbs. Based on my scale, I found that TJ’s pumpkins are around 10 lbs each on average, so you’ll be paying around $0.50.
When compared to WinCo, that’s 43% more expensive. And that’s if you get a 10-pounder. I found plenty of five- and seven-pound pumpkins, where the cost per pound would be even higher.
9. Albertsons charges $0.49/lb for pumpkins — and my store had got some really big ones.
Albertsons charges by the pound for pumpkins, and their $0.49/lb is a 69% increase since 2020, when they were $0.29/lb.
While this isn’t the best price for carving pumpkins by a long shot, my Albertsons had some larger pumpkins in stock, which is great if you’re wanting a big ol’ Jack-o’-lantern. Their lighter pumpkins were a whopping 16.5 lbs, and I easily found 20-pounders.
10. Walmart sells medium pumpkins for just $4.58, and jumbo pumpkins for $8.88 — but they both end up being more than $0.50/lb.
Walmart has two different pumpkin sizes available at their stores, and both have flat rates. Medium pumpkins, which average around 9 lbs, cost $4.58, which gets you a $0.51/lb price. Their $8.88 jumbo pumpkins are around 17 lbs each, which means you’re paying roughly $0.52/lb.
Pretty crazy to think that grocery stores like Albertsons and Kroger offer lower per-pound prices on pumpkins.
Related: How to Clean Out a Pumpkin Fast
11. Home Depot sells pumpkins for a flat rate, but they end up being $0.64/lb — at best.
Yeah, you’re gonna want to skip pumpkin picking at Home Depot. Their prices are some of the worst we’ve seen.
Their medium pumpkins, which average around 8 lbs each, cost $7.98. That’s a cost per pound of a dollar! And although the jumbo pumpkins are a little better, it’s still not great compared to the other stores we visited. The “jumbo” pumpkins I found averaged only 13.5 lbs, and at $9.98 each you’re paying $0.74/lb! The biggest pumpkin I found, a 15.5-pound “jumbo”, would still end up being a whopping $0.64/lb.
Go somewhere else. Anywhere else, really.
12. Lowe’s pumpkin prices are confusing, inflated, and easily $1.00+/lb.
Gonna make this simple for you — avoid Lowe’s for pumpkins. It’s even worse than Home Depot.
There were no prices listed anywhere near their pumpkins. At the register, we learned that depending on the sticker on your pumpkin, you’ll pay a certain flat price, between $4 and $16. No, weight doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with it.
Regardless, if you’re curious, here’s what I found:
- 7-lb pumpkin for $3.98 ($0.57/lb)
- 7.5-lb pumpkin for $7.98 ($1.06/lb)
- 13.5-lb pumpkin for $15.98 ($1.18/lb)
BONUS: White pumpkins are cheapest at Walmart.
The best deal I found on my journey to nearly a dozen stores was Walmart’s white pumpkins. The $4.88 flat rate for white and $5.88 flat rate for other non-standard traditional orange varieties blew the competition out of the water. Most other stores charged double Walmart’s cost.
So while Walmart is not my recommendation for cheap orange pumpkins, it’s definitely the place to go if you’re looking for a pile of white pumpkins to decorate your front porch this year.
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