Egg prices since 1980
Every month the government has surveyed egg prices, on one line: $0.88 when the record opens in January 1980, $6.23 at the top of the 2025 spike, and $2.19 today — about normal for the last five years.
The moments that matter
| Moment | Price | When |
|---|---|---|
| Where the record starts | $0.88 | January 1980 |
| The cheapest month ever | $0.68 | May 1988 |
| Top of the 2015 bird flu outbreak | $2.97 | September 2015 |
| Top of the 2022–23 bird flu wave | $4.82 | January 2023 |
| Top of the 2025 spike | $6.23 | March 2025 |
| Today | $2.19 | July 2026 |
The shortage cycles, one by one
The 2015 bird flu outbreak April 2015 – February 2016
Avian influenza swept Midwest laying farms in spring 2015, and tens of millions of hens were lost. By late summer a dozen eggs cost about a dollar more than it had in March. Flocks were rebuilt over the following year and prices came back down by early 2016.
Peak month: September 2015, at $2.97 a dozen.
The 2022–23 bird flu wave February 2022 – May 2023
A new strain of avian influenza arrived in February 2022 and kept hitting laying flocks all year — about 43 million laying hens were lost in 2022 alone. Egg prices climbed for eleven straight months and peaked at $4.82 a dozen in January 2023, then fell almost as fast once flocks recovered.
Peak month: January 2023, at $4.82 a dozen.
The 2025 spike October 2024 – September 2025
Bird flu returned to laying flocks through late 2024 and kept spreading into the new year. The national average passed $6 a dozen in March 2025 — the highest price ever recorded in the government's survey — and stayed painful through spring before easing over the summer and fall as flocks were rebuilt.
Peak month: March 2025, at $6.23 a dozen.
A gap in the record October 2025 – October 2025
There is no official egg price for October 2025. The federal government shut down that fall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics paused its price survey, and the October number was never collected. The series picks back up in November 2025.
The pattern, every time
Each cycle on this page has the same shape. A supply shock — bird flu, every time since 2015 — takes millions of laying hens out of production. Wholesale prices react within weeks; shelf prices follow over the next month or two. Then the slow part: replacement hens take about five months to start laying, so prices stay painful long after the outbreak headlines stop. When the flocks are back, prices fall — usually faster than they rose. That's a description of the record, not a promise about next time; the current numbers are always the top of the homepage, and the why page keeps the current answer honest.
Common questions
What is the highest egg prices have ever been?
$6.23 a dozen, in March 2025 — the top of the 2025 spike and the highest month in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' records, which start in 1980.
What did eggs cost in 1980?
$0.88 a dozen in January 1980, the first month in the survey. (Prices here are what shoppers paid at the time — not adjusted for inflation.)
When were eggs cheapest?
May 1988, at $0.68 a dozen — the low point of the whole record.
When do these numbers update?
The retail numbers update once a month, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes its average price survey (mid-month, covering the month before). The wholesale egg price updates every week from USDA's market report, so it moves first when something is happening.