That was up from $3.880 per pound in June. A year ago, in July 2013, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $3.459 per pound. Since then, the average price for a pound of ground beef has gone up 42.1 cents--or about 12 percent.

Five years ago, in July 2009, the average price for a pound of ground beef was $2.147, according to the BLS. In those five years, the average price has climbed by $1.737 per pound--or almost 81 percent.

Along with the average price data, the BLS calculates a consumer price index, which is a "tool that simplifies the measurement of movements in a numerical series," explains BLS. "An index for 110, for example, means there has been a 10-percent increase in price since the reference period."

The consumer price index for seasonally adjusted uncooked ground beef was 270.724 in July, which is down slightly from the all-time high of 271.726 in the previous month of June. When BLS began tracking this index in January of 1947, the index stood at 26.5.