Avocado Prices in California — Wholesale & Retail Data
California is the only state that both grows avocados at commercial scale and pays retail prices for them. San Diego, Ventura and Riverside counties produce roughly the entire domestic crop — around 12% of US supply in 2026 — while Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego consumers eat more avocados per capita than anywhere else in the country.
This page tracks California's live wholesale and retail price averages in USD per kilogram, the Hass benchmarks that anchor the market, and the recent trend — with the domestic season's dynamics explained in the commentary below.
Market snapshot — at the latest verified benchmarks: the average wholesale price in California stands at $2.99/kg, the wholesale average at $2.99/kg and the retail average at $4.90/kg. All figures are recomputed daily from scanned market data.
The trend series is an indicative benchmark-anchored series around current verified levels, not daily observed quotes.
California grows essentially all Hass. The historic green-skin varieties survive only in backyard trees and scattered farmers-market stands — commercially, the state's crop is a Hass monoculture quoted on the US size ladder (36–84 count per ≈11.3-kg lug).
Projected 7-day average — linear trend fit over the recent series, aligned with the CIRAD-style weekly read.
A producing market that still imports
California's growers sell into the same terminals that import Mexican fruit, so local Hass competes directly against the border price every day. In practice, California fruit earns a visible premium — the 'California grown' label commands it at retail — but the premium is seasonal: it widens when the crop is light and narrows in the season's final weeks, when producers accelerate harvest to clear before the Peruvian overlap ends.
Late summer 2026 was exactly that window: accumulated California volume ran above the prior season while weekly harvest accelerated, and spot prices softened accordingly. Buyers covering Q4 programs watch this handover closely, because once California finishes, the West Coast loses its local-supply brake on Mexican pricing.
Retail in the avocado capital
California retail is the most avocado-literate in the country: shoppers know sizes, ripeness stages and origins, which supports premium positioning at Sprouts, Whole Foods and Gelson's alongside standard pricing at Walmart, Kroger and Costco. Mexican Hass anchors the value end; local fruit carries the premium label.
For category buyers, the state is a demand benchmark as much as a supply one — promotion response in California predicts national elasticity, because no other market converts a featured ad into volume as fast as the LA basin does.
Data sources & methodology
How these prices are collected
Wholesale benchmarks are midpoints of the observed low–high bands at California's terminal markets (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego), in USD per kilogram. Retail benchmarks blend HAB retail-data, Circana/NielsenIQ scan data and published shelf observations from the seven major national chains.
Season dynamics and origin shares follow the CIRAD FruiTrop weekly US report. The trend series is an indicative benchmark-anchored series around the current verified levels, not a record of daily observed quotes.
Prices are informational market intelligence in USD, not financial or trading advice. Averages are recomputed regularly from the latest scanned market data and are quoted per kilogram.
Frequently asked questions
What is the current avocado price in California?
The live California wholesale and retail averages are shown in the statistics section above, in USD per kilogram, alongside the Hass spot benchmark that anchors West Coast trade.
When is the California avocado season?
The commercial California crop runs from spring through early autumn, peaking in summer. By late summer producers typically accelerate to finish, and the market shifts to Mexican and imported fruit for the rest of the year.
Is California avocado more expensive than imported avocado?
Usually yes at the same size — California Hass carries a local-label premium over Mexican fruit at retail. The premium narrows late in the season as growers discount to clear their final volume.