Got Weird? Milk Is Headed for Its Strangest Year Yet.

America has long had an unsettled relationship with milk. Another upheaval is underway.

By the end of the 20th century, it seemed like cow’s milk was over, along with scrunchies and network television. Soy and nut milks had moved from health-food shelves to the supermarket to Starbucks, and oat milk was waiting in the wings to take over the nation’s lattes.

But in 2024, U.S. consumption of whole milk rose by 3.2 percent — only the second increase since the 1970s — while consumption of plant milk fell 5.9 percent, according to data from Circana, a market research firm. Sales of dairy milk overall were up 1.9 percent, and sales of raw milk spiked by 17.6 percent.

“For dairy milk to be growing at all is surprising, much less by these numbers,” said John Crawford, Circana’s dairy expert. “This reverses trends that have been in place for decades.”

Americans have long had a turbulent relationship with milk. It was a public-health menace of the 19th century, a patriotic staple of the mid-20th century, and a nutritional, ethical and environmental conundrum in the 21st. Yet another shift is underway.

As the raw-milk enthusiast Robert F. Kennedy Jr. awaits confirmation as Health and Human Services secretary, milk is poised to have a very strange 2025.