OHIO — People may feel that sense of shock again when going to the supermarket.

The average retail price of eggs in the U.S. has risen about 38% since Nov. 2023, according to consumer price index data on Wednesday. 

 

What You Need To Know

  • They are one staple on grocery store shelves

  • But now the cost of a dozen eggs is on the rise again

  • Just about two years after they peaked during the pandemic era, the average price is once again approaching four dollars

  • We explore what this may mean for the economy going forward

 

A carton of a dozen large “Grade A eggs” cost $3.65 in November. They were $2.14 in November last year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Grade A egg prices peaked at $4.82 a dozen in Jan. 2023, jumping from $1.93 in Jan. 2022.

Economists say the main reason for the higher prices is highly pathogenic avian influenza, better known as bird flu, which has significantly reduced egg supply. But also the strong consumer demand for eggs that we typically see around the winter holiday season. 

“On the seasonality front, yes, more people want to buy eggs this time of year for not only, you know, drinking and eggnog but also baking things and all those fun treats you’d like to have around the holiday season, but when we’re looking at, say, year-over-year changes in prices, that’s already somewhat factored in terms of that seasonality because people were likely doing the same thing last November and December, you know, wanting to buy more eggs than they do in the middle of the year and that sort of thing and we’re still seeing prices higher this year than last year,” said Jonathan Ernest, an assistant professor, for the Department of Economics at Case Western Reserve University. “So, that’s having potentially some impact. There might be, you know, even more demand this year is people are hosting even more holiday parties and things post-pandemic and really getting back to normal. But I think it’s somewhat kind of clear that other factors are driving this, this increase in egg prices.”

Ernest said people often associate egg prices as an indicator of how the U.S. economy is doing, but he said it really depends on supply and demand. 

“Typically, you go out to the store, you see egg prices and you say, hey, those are more expensive, so everything else must be more expensive as well,” Ernest said. “The economy must be experiencing lots of inflation. Maybe it’s not doing as well. Maybe we’re going to see things slow down, but that’s not necessarily the case. There seems to be that just the supply of eggs in particular is restricted, which leads to higher prices. If we get a large influx of eggs that are created, we’re likely to see those prices come back down. So there may be some correlation at times between egg prices and the economy, but not necessarily a great indicator of how the economy’s doing.”

Ernest said this is good news for other grocery items as he said those prices are staying consistent. 

As for the egg prices, he said the higher costs now could lead to fewer people buying eggs, which would drop demand. If we can produce healthy birds in the new year, we will see an increase in supply, which would also help the prices go down.