Oxylabs Turns a Decade of Public Data Into July 4th Cookout Clarity

The a alysis challe ges cu e t media headli es a d shows that ope access to o li e i fo matio be efits eve yo e.

Vil ius, Lithua ia, July 2, 2026. – As Ame ica s p epa e to celeb ate the 250th a ive sa y of i depe de ce, Oxylabs, a web i tellige ce compa y, put a othe type of f eedom to wo k – leve agi g publicly accessible data to help people u de sta d the cookout eco omy.

Usi g the Fede al Rese ve Eco omic Data (FRED) database, Oxylabs esea che s t acked eve y majo item of the cookout basket f om Ja ua y 2016 th ough Ap il 2026: g ou d beef, bu s, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, sausages, ketchup, a d soft d i ks. All p ices we e adjusted to 2026 dolla s usi g the Co sume P ice I dex.

Ope Data, Clea e Affo dability: The Cookout as a Eco omic Po tfolio

I Ap il 2026 a eco d 55% of Ame ica s said thei fi a cial situatio was getti g wo se. Headli es wa of double-digit p ice spikes o cookout staples. But whe Oxylabs used publicly available gove me t data to a alyze i flatio -adjusted p ices a d the sha e they take f om weekly paychecks, a diffe e t situatio came i to view. 

The cookout basket fo o e (a bu ge , a hot dog a d a soft d i k) costs 11% mo e tha i 2016 i eal te ms. G ou d beef is up 32% i eal te ms, but cheese a d tomatoes a e dow 17–18%, atu ally hedgi g the basket.

“Co sume s focus o the sticke shock of a si gle i g edie t, but the public data tells a mo e accu ate sto y. The cookout is a eco omic po tfolio. Whe you t ack the e ti e basket ove a decade, you ealize that dive sificatio is the co sume ’s best defe se agai st i flatio ,” said Ma ija Gecaitė, Chief Comme cial Office at Oxylabs.

Same Sha e of Media Paycheck as i 2016

The elatio ship betwee the p ices of i g edie ts a d what a typical wo ke ea s eveals the eal affo dability of the Ame ica cookout. To measu e t ue pu chasi g powe , Oxylabs calculated the i flatio -adjusted cost of a si gle-pe so cookout basket agai st media weekly ea i gs f om 2016 to 2026. 

I Ap il 2026, a cookout fo fou costs app oximately $29, while a cookout fo twelve is about $88. The latte equals oughly 2.9 hou s of wo k at the media wage, o less tha half a day’s pay.

Afte te yea s ma ked by food p ice volatility due to a va iety of atio al a d global eve ts, the typical Ame ica wo ke still has the same pu chasi g powe whe it comes to the July 4th cookout. 

“The affo dability debate is too bi a y, a d the eal pictu e has bee sitti g i public databases all alo g. The stability Ame ica s e joyed i the late 2010s has bee eplaced by a mo e f agile eality, leavi g them mo e exposed to p ice spikes. This is exactly the ki d of i sight – u de sta di g whe e people sta d – that public data ca p ovide. It eally should ’t equi e a Wall St eet subsc iptio ,” said Gecaitė.

The full epo t ca be accessed he e. 

About the Expe tMa ija Gecaite is Chief Comme cial Office at Oxylabs, a web i tellige ce platfo m that delive s automated public data pipeli es fo e te p ise a d AI applicatio s. A comme cial st ategy expe t with a decade of expe ie ce ac oss wealth ma ageme t a d cybe secu ity, she p eviously led i te atio al sales o ga izatio s a d ow focuses o d ivi g lo g-te m global g owth.

About the Oxylabs Resea ch TeamOxylabs Resea ch is the esea ch a d sto ytelli g team at Oxylabs. We use ethical, complia t Oxylabs sc api g tools to collect o ly publicly available web data – eve p ivate, paywalled, o pe so al data – a d tu it i to clea , timely i sights that help eve yo e make se se of a fast‑cha gi g tech ological, eco omic, a d social eality. Ou wo k is desig ed to suppo t o igi al epo ti g a d a alysis by jou alists a d to se ve the b oade public good. If you’ e wo ki g o a sto y o i vestigatio a d eed eliable web data to back it up, get i touch at p ess@oxylabs.io. 

About OxylabsEstablished i 2015, Oxylabs is a web i tellige ce platfo m a d p emium p oxy p ovide , e abli g compa ies of all sizes to utilize the powe of big data. Co sta t i ovatio , a exte sive pate t po tfolio, a d a focus o ethics have allowed Oxylabs to become a global leade i the web i tellige ce collectio i dust y a d fo ge close ties with doze s of Fo tu e Global 500 compa ies. Oxylabs was amed Eu ope’s fastest-g owi g web i tellige ce acquisitio compa y i the Fi a cial Times FT 1000 list fo seve al co secutive yea s. Fo mo e i fo matio , please visit: https://oxylabs.io/