Price evolution of eggs in the United States

1. Relevance of the price of eggs
2. Price evolution of eggs
   1. Absolute price of eggs per year
   2. Inflation adjusted price of eggs per year
3. Conclusion
4. FAQs about eggs's price in the the United States
5. Price evolution table and full chart

You might not think the price of an egg matters much, but the truth is, it does, even if you are a vegan and don’t eat eggs, their price remains important for a variety of reasons.

The first is, most people do consume eggs, they are one of the most basic ingredients one can use to prepare a meal, and for many, they are an important source of protein and nutrients. This is especially true in developing countries, where access to protein may be limited.

Another less obvious and often overlooked fact is that the price of eggs is taken into account to calculate many price indexes, including inflation itself. This means that if the price of eggs goes up, they can push inflation up too, which in turn will increase the price of almost any other thing out there. It is unlikely that a single product can have a severe impact on inflation, but it sure has some weight in it, and the potential to destabilize an economy.

There’s a variety of choices when it comes to eggs. Which animal produced them, how those animals were fed and how far away from your local supermarket that was are just some of the factors that may influence how much your pay for your eggs. And there are also the distributors themselves of course. Different supermarkets will price products differently, and eggs are no exception.

In this article, we have considered a nationwide average for the price of a dozen grade-A chicken eggs.

Price evolution of eggs

The average price of a dozen eggs between 1980 and 2023 was $1.35, with the lowest price being $0.84 in 1980 and the highest $3.45 in 2023 (at least within the timeframe we have data for).

Yes, I'm sorry to say, but eggs in the United States has never been as expensive as it is today.

Let's take a closer look at the data in the tables below:

Absolute price of eggs per year

Our data source for this article was: OfficialData .

The absolute price of eggs in the the United States has gone from $0.84 in 1980 to $3.45 in 2023. That's an absolute increase of $2.61, or 310.71% in a period of 43 years. (go to the next section for inflation-adjusted values).

This increment has not been linear though. During this period of 43 years the price of eggs actually decreased year over year 15 times, in 1982, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2016, 2017, 2019.

The biggest absolute price decrease in the price of a dozen eggs was in 2016, when the price dropped by $-0.79, or -31.98%. The biggest price increase was $1.19, or 71.26% in 2022.

So yes, it's had its ups and downs, but overall, price increases outweight the deceases, making eggs pricier than it used to be.

Inflation-adjusted price of eggs per year

As accurate as the information above might be, it can also be somehow deceiving. This is because the value of money changes over time, usually decreasing. That means that $1 of today's money cannot buy as much as $1 in the past. This phenomenon is called inflation, and can make it complicated to compare historical pricing data. Luckily, we can adjust for it and calculate what a dollar value of the past would be equal to in today's money.

So let's not take a look at the evolution of the price of eggs in the the United States, in that same 43 years period between 1980 and 2023, but adjusting prices to inflation (aka. in today's money).

When we adjust for inflation, we see that the price of eggs also peaked in 2023, when it cost $3.63 (in today's money), and was at its lowest in 2001 when it sold for $1.66.

The biggest drop in adjusted price happened in 2016, when the inflation-adjusted price dropped by $-1.03 (-32.09%). Even when adjusting for inflation, the biggest price increase of eggs was still in 2022. However, the $1.19 jump actually felt like $1.26 to the consumer due, to the effect of inflation.

The average price of eggs during this period of time, adjusting for inflation, has been $2.37, and the most current price of $3.45 is 45.57% above that average.

Conclusion

The absolute price of eggs has increased by $1.54 ($80.63%) in the last decade, and $2.61 (310.71%) since 1980. But that comes as no surprise, as prices always tend to increase over time due to inflation.

Now, as we've explained earlier, the absolute price of a product does not necessarily represent its affordability fairly. For that we have to look at its inflation adjusted price, or in other words, the price evolution in today's money.

When we look at the inflation-adjusted price of eggs, we see that it has varied ± 41.58% over this period of time, and is currently 45.64% more expensive than the average over these years .

Even when adjusting prices for inflation, eggs prices are still higher in 2023 than they were in 1980. And not just a bit more expensive, we are talking about a significant increase no matter how you look at it!

So if there had to be one single take away from this article it would be this: The average person has to make a bigger economic effort to purchase eggs today than in the past.

FAQs about the price of eggs in the the United States