LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you've been inside a meat market recently, you've probably noticed that prices on the rise.
Local butchers tell me meat costs keep going up, especially beef.
“We got a tri-tip here, choice tri-tip," said The Butcher Shop owner Ron Lutz. “Those have gone up about $2 a pound over the last year. Then we got choice New Yorks, choice ribeyes, choice bone-in ribeyes and choice filets, and those are bouncing in about a dollar over the last year.”
It's a problem Lutz tells me he doesn't see slowing down anytime soon.
“Yeah then by Christmas it may be up to $2 a pound more," he said.
I asked him how significant a price increase like that would be.
"That’s a lot, you buy a 20lb ribeye at $2 a pound, it’s $40 more," Lutz said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index Inflation report for July 2025, beef is the hardest hit meat. Steak is up 12.4%, ground beef is up 11.5% and roasts are up 10.1% compared to prices in July 2024.
He says he believes there are several factors making these beef prices soar.
“The demand is still there, but the supply is not. A lot of ranchers sold off their herds, and then I don’t know about the import market coming in from Mexico and Canada, I don’t know how that’s going to play off with the tariffs," Lutz said.
He says they use local purveyors, but most of their meat comes from the Midwest.
Lutz tells me while customers are still buying from his three valley locations, he has seen a change.
“If they want it, they spend the money for it. Maybe get a smaller steak than a 1-pound, maybe they’ll go a 12-ounce steak, you know cut down on the size of their portion," Lutz said.
Longtime customer Rita Hansford has been purchasing her meat, specifically grass-fed beef, from The Butcher Shop since at least 2014.
She says while she hasn't noticed a large increase at the meat market, she has felt the impact of high prices at most stores where she shops.
I asked her if she's concerned with rising prices.
"Yeah it is with everything, not just food," Hansford said.
She said she will pay more for certain items though, and that includes meat.
“If I have to, I prefer not, but if I have to, of course," she said.
Lutz says he does everything he can to not push the price hike to the customer, but says he can only do so much.
“In Christmas time, we can absorb a little bit as well because of the volume, volume helps cure a little bit, but like I said, if I pay $2 a pound more, we can only absorb so much," he said.
Lutz tells me while he has to still wait and see what the tariff impacts are, he says he wouldn't be surprised if prices keep rising through the holiday season and into next year.