How Much Does a US Passport Photo Cost? Retail Prices, Real Price Trends and the Photo's Share of Passport Costs, with Passport Demand and Acceptance Facilities, from Retailer Pages, USPS Audits, CPI and State Department Data, 1974–2026

Every US passport application carries a photograph, yet the photo is the one part of a passport's cost that is not set by the federal fee schedule. We compile the 2026 list prices of the national chains that take passport photos, nationwide prices recorded by the USPS Office of Inspector General in 2011 and 2015, consumer price indexes, the passport fee schedule since 2000, a 2026 benefit–cost analysis of online renewal and State Department series on applications, issuance, valid passports and acceptance facilities. In 2026 a set of two 2x2-inch photos cost from USD 7.64 at Walmart to USD 17.99 at CVS and Staples, a ratio of 2.35; Walgreens charged USD 16.99 including a digital copy, 70.1% more than its USD 9.99 of 2011, while CVS rose 80.1% and Walmart's price fell 4.4%. The Post Office has charged USD 15 since 2005, equivalent to USD 24.73 in 2025 dollars, a real decline of 39.3%; because passport fees rose, its photo fell from 13.4% of the total cost of a first-time passport in 2005 to 8.3% since 2022. Consumer prices for photographers and photo processing rose 31.4% from 1998 to 2025, against 97.5% for all items. In the government's model, 66% of online renewal applicants obtained their photo at no monetary cost. Applications reached a record 21,577,377 in fiscal 2023 and issuance 27,348,416 in fiscal 2025, while the 7,313 named acceptance facilities in 2026, two-thirds of them post offices, compare with over 9,400 in 2008.