Fox Business Reports Price of Eggs Has Risen 37%: ‘Nearly $9 Per Dozen in Some Areas’

Photo by Dr. V on Flickr via Creative Commons License.

Inflation — especially the cost of essentials like housing, groceries, and gas — was a major issue for many voters in last November’s election, but President Donald Trump may find it easier said than done to get the price of eggs down, according to a Fox Business report.

An article by Fox News Digital breaking news writer Alexandra Koch noted that egg prices “are up 36.8% from this time last year,” according to the Consumer Price Index.

Data compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that a dozen Grade A large eggs — the most popular type offered in most grocery stores across the country — cost $2.51 in December 2023 and increased to $4.14 a year later, in December 2024.

The average price of a dozen Grade A large eggs was $4.15 in December, an almost $2 increase from the $2.51 per dozen in December 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The peak egg price was January 2023, when a dozen large eggs had an average price of $4.82.

Of course, the average price doesn’t tell the whole story and different regions are seeing even higher inflation on their breakfast plates. In California, the price of eggs “has reached nearly $9 per dozen in some areas,” the report said.

Two key drivers of this price hike, reported Koch, were a recent bird flu outbreak and new laws in several states that only allow eggs to be sold if chickens are housed “cage-free”:

The Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) was either directly or indirectly responsible for killing more than 20 million egg-laying hens in the last quarter of 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Farms are required to cull all birds in an infected flock, devastating the egg industry.

…While Michigan lawmakers modified the Animal Industry Act in 2019, it went into effect at the start of the new year — requiring sold shell eggs to be from cage-free housing systems.

The law also prohibits business owners from selling eggs from egg-laying hens that do not have usable floor space, or those that are confined.

The article ends with a prediction that many politicians who campaigned on kitchen table issues may find worrisome: that eggs “could be nearly $5 by the end of 2025, which would be the highest-ever recorded average price for a dozen eggs.”