Source: USDA
Total fluid milk sales have declined over the past 15 years, falling from a peak at about 55,433 million pounds in 2009 to 43,179 million pounds in 2024, according to data from USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS). This shift represents a 22-percent decrease, notwithstanding a modest increase from 2023 to 2024.
Factors contributing to the decline include a falling proportion of young children in the U.S. population, the increasing availability of alternatives, and changing consumer preferences.
Despite the broader downward trend in total milk sales, whole milk’s share of the market has grown. After being the leading category in the early 2000s, its share dropped to a low of 26 percent in 2012 but has since risen to 39 percent in 2024. The increase in share of sales for whole milk suggests that consumer concerns over dairy fat, which manifested during the early to mid-2000s, have diminished.
This growth contrasts with other categories of fluid milk. From 2005 to 2017, reduced-fat milk was the dominant category, accounting for about 34 percent of sales. Its share has declined since 2017, reaching about 30 percent in 2024. Likewise, the aggregate low-fat and skim milk category has declined since 2015, accounting for 16 percent in 2024, down more than 13 percent from recent highs in 2010 and 2011. The flavored milk and other fluid milk product (including eggnog and buttermilk) categories comprise relatively smaller sales volumes and shares, collectively averaging about 13 percent over the last 5 years.
Recent data from USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service indicate that the long-term decline in total fluid milk sales likely continued in 2025, while whole milk maintained its share of the market.
