U.S. retail egg prices rose 8.5% in 2024, the largest increase among the food categories in the USDA comparison. Overall food-at-home prices rose 1.2%. USDA attributed the egg increase primarily to a resurgence of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which reduced the laying flock and egg production. The yearly figure captures the full-year change; it does not mean egg prices rose 8.5% every month or that every egg type and retailer saw the same change.
How much did egg prices rise in 2024?
The USDA Economic Research Service (ERS) reported that the retail price index for eggs increased 8.5% in 2024. By comparison, the index for food purchased for consumption at home rose 1.2%. The figures are annual changes, not a month-by-month path or a price increase guaranteed for every grade, store, or state. USDA ERS’s 2025 food price review identified eggs as the biggest increase among the food categories it compared.
Why did egg prices go up?
Bird flu reduced the laying flock
The main documented supply shock was renewed HPAI in egg-laying flocks. When infected flocks are depopulated, fewer hens remain to produce eggs, tightening supply. ERS estimated that 13.6 million birds were depopulated from November 2023 through January 2024. Its early-2024 outlook recorded 13.64 million table-egg-laying hens lost since HPAI reemerged in egg-laying flocks in early November 2023; the table-egg layer inventory on January 1, 2024, was 311.8 million birds. The ERS report on the early-2024 cage-free market and the February 2024 Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook provide those outbreak and inventory figures.
Supply losses affected the market unevenly
The national annual increase does not describe every part of the market. Cage-free eggs were especially affected in early 2024, and supply and prices moved sharply over a short period. That dated episode helps explain why shoppers could encounter much higher prices at one point without treating a single price observation as the annual average for all eggs.
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Why were cage-free eggs especially expensive early in 2024?
In March 2024, cage-free hens accounted for about 40% of the U.S. egg-laying flock, or 124.8 million layers, according to ERS. The late-2023 and early-2024 HPAI wave reduced cage-free inventories into February. Of the roughly 13.6 million birds depopulated from November 2023 through January 2024, about 4 million were hens from California’s cage-free flock. ERS’s account of the cage-free market describes the resulting supply pressure.
California requires retailers to source eggs from cage-free layers, including eggs brought in from other states. As California’s own cage-free supply fell, cage-free eggs from elsewhere were sent to that market to help fill the gap. ERS said the added demand pressure contributed to a peak in the advertised national average retail cage-free price of $5.26 per dozen on January 12, 2024. This was a dated advertised-price observation for cage-free eggs, not the average annual price of all eggs. Weekly California wholesale prices later reached $5.59 per dozen—a separate measure in a separate market, not a retail price for shoppers.
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Did prices stay at the early-year peak?
Not in the cage-free segment described by ERS. U.S. cage-free inventories began recovering from their low during the week of January 22 and continued climbing into April 2024. ERS reported that cage-free prices had returned to a typical range by then. That recovery shows why a peak from January should not be treated as a price level that lasted all year; it does not establish that every retailer or egg type followed the same pattern. ERS’s April 2024 update covers the inventory and price recovery.
How to read the production and price forecasts
USDA forecasts issued during 2024 offered a view of expected recovery, not a final measurement of the year’s retail prices. One USDA outlook projected 2024 U.S. egg production at 9.31 billion dozen, just over 1% above 2023, and projected New York wholesale prices to average $1.83 per dozen for the year. The February ERS outlook separately projected table-egg production of 8,000 million dozen, 1.4% above 2023, and an average New York wholesale price of 183 cents per dozen. These were dated forecasts, issued at different times and potentially based on differently defined series; neither is the observed annual retail price change. USDA’s 2024 outlook and the February outlook also noted early-year market volatility and the industry’s recovery from HPAI-related culls.
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USDA’s February outlook revised production projections for the first and third quarters and raised early-quarter New York wholesale price projections after prices climbed in January and early February. Those changes reflect the outlook at that time, not a final retail result. For the realized full-year comparison, the ERS annual retail index is the more relevant measure.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why different egg-price numbers can all be correct
Egg-price reports can appear to conflict when they measure different things. Check these distinctions before comparing figures:
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- Retail versus wholesale: A wholesale price, such as California’s $5.59-per-dozen weekly high, is not what a shopper necessarily paid in a store.
- Annual change versus a dated observation: The 8.5% figure is the annual change in the retail price index. The $5.26 figure is an advertised national average retail cage-free price on January 12, 2024.
- All eggs versus cage-free: The 2024 annual index is the broad retail measure; the January peak concerns cage-free eggs.
- National versus local market: The national cage-free retail observation and California’s wholesale price describe different geographic markets and price levels.
- Forecast versus realized result: USDA production and wholesale price projections were estimates made during 2024, not final observed annual retail prices.
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
