Egg prices today: the US retail average per dozen

This is the price shoppers actually pay at the grocery register, from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The dollar figure is BLS's average retail price for a dozen grade A large eggs across US cities (series APU0000708111). It is a survey mean across whatever eggs sell, a MIXED basket of conventional, cage-free and organic, so it is not a conventional-only price and it is not the wholesale benchmark. Grocery prices differ from the wholesale number this site tracks for concrete reasons: the wholesale quote is for loose eggs priced at the plant, while the shelf price adds grading and candling, cartons and packaging, transport to the distribution center and the store, and the retailer's own margin. Much of retail moves on contracts rather than the daily spot market, and there is a reporting lag in both directions, so the shelf is slower to rise and slower to fall than wholesale. For the rate of change, read the eggs Consumer Price Index rather than the dollar average: BLS notes that a price index is built to measure inflation, while an average price can be pulled around by shifts in which eggs shoppers buy.

Today's price, two ways. The retail average above is monthly and arrives with a lag, so for the price of eggs today the daily figure is the USDA wholesale benchmark: $0.69 a dozen for large white eggs sold loose at the plant, as of Nov 12, 2026. That is what a packer is paid before cartons, trucking and the store's margin, which is why it runs far below the register price. The two move in the same direction over time, but not by the same amount or in the same month: the chart at the top of this page plots both lines in dollars per dozen.

Which way prices are moving. At wholesale, the leading edge of this market, the national large white benchmark has risen 3 straight weeks, up $0.43 a dozen (162%) since Oct 21, 2026. HPAI detections hit 3 commercial layer flocks totaling 2.3 million birds in the past 8 weeks (USDA APHIS). The US table-egg laying flock stood at 319.1 million birds as of Oct 1, 2026 (USDA NASS). The market is in the holiday baking season, typically the year's peak egg demand. The shelf follows wholesale with a lag, so the retail average usually moves later and by less.

How far each has moved in a year. The retail average went from $3.49 a year earlier to $2.32 in October 2026 (-33.5%). Over roughly the same year the wholesale benchmark went from $1.99 to $0.69 (-65.2%). Wholesale swings further in both directions because it is a spot price for one product at one point in the chain; the shelf price averages a mixed basket, much of it bought on contract, with packaging, freight and store costs that do not fall when the egg itself gets cheaper. From hen to shelf walks through the chain.

Against the record. The highest monthly average BLS has published for a dozen grade A large eggs is $6.23, in March 2025; the latest $2.32 is 63% below it. The price history page carries every month since 1980, adjusted for inflation, and the price for every year back to 1950.

What stores are advertising. USDA also counts, every week, how many grocery stores run an ad for each kind of egg and at what carton price. The advertised prices table and the stores-featuring chart above come from that report. Heavy featuring usually means ample, cheap supply, and features pull back when a shock makes eggs scarce. What retail feature activity means explains how to read it.

Against normal. The October 2026 store average of $2.32 compares with a median of $2.72 for October across 2022-2025, so shoppers paid 15% less than in a typical recent October. USDA's daily national index only began in February 2025, so the wholesale comparison is with its own median since then, $1.17 a dozen; the Nov 12, 2026 reading of $0.69 is 41% below it. That span includes the 2025 bird-flu price spike, so a year-earlier comparison is the steadier read.