Tomatoes show up on burgers, in salads, and on sandwiches across the country, but lately they have turned into something else: a reminder of how much harder it is to keep a grocery budget under control. Over the past year, tomato prices have jumped more than any other food product tracked by the government, and shoppers and small businesses alike are feeling the pinch every time they restock.

Tomato prices are up about 40% from a year ago, according to the latest Consumer Price Index, far outpacing other grocery items that have also gotten more expensive. By comparison, coffee is up 18.5%, beef roasts 17.8%, and frozen fish and seafood 12%. A separate inflation measure released Thursday showed overall prices rose 3.8% in April from a year earlier, the highest reading in nearly three years.

For people who cook at home, the increase has been hard to miss. Some shoppers have filmed themselves in the produce aisle reacting to prices they say have quadrupled, with tomatoes running as high as $8 a pound, and a few have said they plan to grow their own to avoid the cost.

"The tomato has become a symbol of something much deeper," said Isaac Bernal Carbajo, a New York City chef, who described life's "simplest pleasures" being lost to higher prices. "Something as basic as buying fresh vegetables is starting to become a serious financial decision for many families."

What's pushing prices up

Several forces are hitting tomatoes at the same time. Beyond weaker crop yields, analysts point to two policies from President Donald Trump's second term: the conflict with Iran and new trade tariffs. The war drove up gas prices and made shipping more expensive, while the United States pulled out of an agreement that had allowed tomatoes to be imported from Mexico without duties. Mexico supplies most of the tomatoes Americans eat.

"A perfect storm of trade policy, extreme weather and Mideast policy," is how Usha Haley, an economist at Wichita State University, summed it up.

The trade shift has had an outsized effect because of how much the country leans on a single supplier. "Tariffs are undeniably a big driver of the price inflation," said Brett Massimino, a business professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Because the U.S. relies on Mexico for the majority of its tomato supply, any changes in trade policy can have a large impact."

The timeline helps explain why shoppers are noticing now. The U.S. withdrew from the Mexico tomato agreement last July, a move American tomato farmers welcomed as a way to rebuild their shrinking industry. The effect took months to reach store shelves, showing up as imports picked up in late winter and early spring. When those tomatoes arrived, they carried a 17% tariff. Federal data shows tariffs collected on tomatoes jumped from $16,424 in 2024 to nearly $4.6 million, an increase of 27,879%.

A bigger bill for restaurants

While families are paying more at the store, businesses that build their menus around tomatoes are absorbing some of the steepest costs. MarginEdge, which tracks prices for restaurants, found grape tomatoes rose the most, climbing 65% in a single month, with all varieties getting pricier.

Snarf's Sandwiches, which runs dozens of locations in Colorado, Missouri, and Texas, puts a tomato on nearly every sandwich it sells. Chief Operating Officer Wayne Humphrey said a case of tomatoes climbed from $27 to $93 in the span of a year, on top of rising costs for bread, beef, and labor.

"That single ingredient now costs us more than $1.7 million in additional spend annually," Humphrey said. "The math is getting harder to ignore."

Some relief may be on the way. Phillip Coles, a supply chain management professor at Lehigh University, said prices should ease later in the year once domestically grown tomatoes are harvested. He added that higher prices will "induce farmers to increase planting to meet the demand, but this takes longer because of the lead time."