If you’ve examined your grocery bill lately, you’ve probably noticed the cost of eggs, a common staple in many kitchens, has gone up.
The Department of Agriculture reported that egg prices in January 2025 were 53% higher than in January 2024. Although the cost of eggs does fluctuate, their steady rise over the past year has been alarming.
According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average price for a dozen eggs in January 2025 was $4.95, a significant jump from the $2.52 it was just one year ago. Such hikes can be alarming when you’re accustomed to purchasing these high-protein grocery items for just a few dollars.
So, why are eggs so expensive right now, and when will prices start dropping? Keep reading for answers.
The Expense of Fighting Bird Flu
For some time now, you’ve probably heard bird flu blamed for the price of eggs, and for good reason.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, retail egg prices have experienced volatile month-to-month changes due to the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which began in 2022.
About 18.8 million commercial egg layers were affected by HPAI in January 2025. Since this bird flu greatly reduced egg-layer flocks and egg production, it has significantly contributed to elevated egg prices.
In other words, the disease has done a lot of damage to the egg industry.
No chicken farmer wants to see their flocks wiped out. The last several months have been especially bad, says Michael Persia, a professor and extension specialist of poultry nutrition at Virginia Tech.
For this reason, chicken farmers are spending more money to protect their flocks, which is raising egg prices.
“Egg farmers have implemented comprehensive biosecurity measures to keep disease off their farms and keep their birds safe, including things like shower-in/out and truck washes — in which the tires, undercarriage, etc., of vehicles entering the farm are automatically cleaned by machines at the gate,” says Emily Metz, the president and CEO at the American Egg Board.
Metz says that the biosecurity measures have been in effect since 2015 and that farmers have made further enhancements since then.
“For example, some farms have installed laser systems to discourage the wild birds that carry and spread the disease from landing on the property,” Metz says.
“Other measures, like closely monitoring the health of the birds in their flocks, enhanced pest control and securing facilities and ventilation systems, are all part and parcel of egg farmers’ commitment to keeping their birds safe and healthy on a continuous basis. These birds are their livelihood,” she adds.
“A lot of barns have ventilators and open windows systems, and all it takes is a breeze blowing a little particle of the virus where the chickens are. That’s how contagious it is,” she says.
Inflationary Costs
Metz says that even without the bird flu killing off chickens and the added expense of battling it, getting an egg from the chicken to your egg carton takes a lot of money.
Metz says fuel, packaging and labor costs — which have all increased considerably in the last few years — add to the price of eggs.
“The cost of chicken feed is the highest it’s been in a decade,” she adds.
Metz also says that “there’s the retail component as well. We can’t control what the retailers set for the price of eggs.”
These rising prices across numerous industries, causing egg prices to climb, led to what the media dubbed “eggflation.”
[Related:U.S. Inflation Rates Over Time and the Forecast for 2025]
The Cage-Free Trend
As chicken farms expand to offer chickens more space to roam (often, however, they’re still inside a building), the price does drive up.
“A California law banning egg sales in the state produced by hens that are not cage-free, regardless of where they are produced, is raising production costs for producers,” says Phillip Coles, a teaching associate professor in Lehigh University’s Decision and Technology Analytics department in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
“Several other states are considering similar legislation,” Coles adds. In addition to California, other states that have cage-free laws are Arizona, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
“Some producers who could not afford to comply or who have better alternatives in which to invest capital have stopped production, further reducing supplies. Those who change their production methods need to depreciate the increased compliance costs,” he says.
Supply and Demand
Ryan Decker is an assistant professor of economics and director of the Center for Financial Literacy at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.
He points out that “eggs are such an integral part of an American diet that most people buy eggs regardless of the price. As the price of eggs increases, we’ll complain more but still buy them.”
He says that’s keeping the prices high. If everybody buys expensive eggs, the farmers and retailers have little incentive to lower the price, especially if that means taking a hit on their profits.
There are more than 368 million egg-laying chickens in the United States, but when you have 82 million egg-laying chickens killed, you have a lot of potential eggs taken off the market. With fewer chickens, there are fewer eggs.
It’s the classic law of supply and demand: A smaller supply with a great demand generally drives up the price.
Metz also points out that if a chicken farm has to kill all of its chickens, it can take six months to sanitize everything, replace the chickens and get them laying eggs again. So, when bird flu hammers a large commercial chicken farm, it can really shrink the supply of eggs in the market.
[Related:How to Eat Healthy on a Budget]
What Consumers Can Do About the Price of Eggs
Here are a few ideas to mitigate the cost of eggs:
— Rework your budget. If you can save money by lowering the cost of something else in your budget, like switching to a cheaper insurance provider or getting rid of a streaming service you never use, you might not be as impacted by climbing egg prices.
— Find something else to eat for breakfast. There are a lot of breakfast choices out there, from cereal to pancakes. Also, fewer consumers buying eggs can incentivize chicken farmers to decrease prices.
— Shop around. If you don’t like the price of your eggs at one store, another supermarket may sell them cheaper. Try buying them from a local farmer or a farmer’s market if you can.
[Related:These Are the 10 Cheapest Grocery Stores in the U.S.]
When Will Egg Prices Go Down?
It is hard to pinpoint when the price of eggs will revert to normal. The Department of Agriculture predicts that they will increase by 41.1% in 2025. However, this can change if the spread of the highly contagious bird flu — the main driver for the higher prices — slows. When it does, chicken stocks can rebound and consumers will again enjoy these protein-rich grocery staples for a bargain.
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Eggs Are Crazy Expensive Right Now — Here’s What You Can Do originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 03/03/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
