Facebook Followers Face Egg Price Sticker Shock

We asked our Facebook audience to tell us where they are, where they shop, and what they are paying for eggs.

With a historic 60% average increase in egg prices for 2022, it’s no wonder shoppers are frustrated with stretching their budgets to accommodate one of the most widely purchased foods that US households depend on for protein and versatility among mealtimes. To fully comprehend the scope of egg price increases and the impact on your shoppers, it’s important to understand that eggs are a highly segmented retail category, offering a variety from cage-free to organic and additionally, are vulnerable to higher prices depending on their store or region of the country. Still being a single ingredient product, consumer response to egg prices can be a good indicator to how financially crunched shoppers feel as they walk the supermarket aisles. 

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average cost of one dozen eggs is currently at $4.33, up from $3.59 last November. And to support even more of a “sticker shock” perspective, average egg prices in 2021 were $1.51. 

While price increases are largely believed to be the consequences of a historic avian flu outbreak that killed millions of egg-producing hens, the financial accessibility to these products has put pressure on consumers and producers. In fact, on January 21, NPR reported that even U.S. Customs and Border Protection were seeing an increase in efforts to smuggle eggs across the Mexican border, where a 30-count package of eggs averages around $3.40. 

How do shoppers feel about this huge increase? We went to our Facebook audience and asked them to comment with where they live, the supermarket they shop, type of eggs they buy and price. The response was overwhelming, so we’ve put together some of those comments from north to south, and east to west, to get an overview of how prices differ depending on region. 

Northeast

“One dozen ShopRite brand for $6.09 in West Milford New Jersey”
- Maria G., West Milford, NJ

“In NYC, UES, I saw a dozen cage free up to $8, organic around that or more. A pack of 18 is close to $10 for regular eggs. Regular eggs like Land of Lakes or Eggland's Best are around $6.50. I wait until they go on sale and pay around $3.59/dozen for extra large.”
- Helen T. New York City, NY

“Trader Joe's in New Hampshire, organic free range @$4.99.”
- Paul M., NH

Southeast

“Aldi in Doral, FL today.............$4.99! (Large)”
- James R., Doral, FL

“The other day I paid $3.49 for a dozen grade A eggs in Aldi's, New Bern, NC. Food Lion on MLK Blvd in town only had the 3 dozen packs. No single dozen cartons available.”
- Rita F., New Bern, SC

“Kroger large white eggs $4.89 in Huntsville, AL”
- Winona J., Huntsville, AL

Midwest

“Interestingly at Meijer in Evansville, IN, the premium free-range eggs (Born Free) were about 10 cents CHEAPER than the regular eggs from the regional farms (prices were around $4.67 to $4.77 a dozen).”
- Wayne H., Evansville, IN

“Bought 12 meijer brand eggs 2 days ago cincinnati for 4.99”
- Robert N., Cincinnati, OH

West

“Vons. I pay 5.65 for 12...free range organic.”
- Gabo B., Long Beach CA

“I work at Target in Sparks, NV $4.69 1 dozen cage free”
- David W., Sparks, NV

“Around $4.60 per dozen for large eggs at HEB in south Texas; over $5 at Wal-Mart”
- Alicia W., TX

We would like to send out a big thanks to our Facebook followers as this kind of feedback helps us understand and share with the food industry what consumers are facing as food inflation continues to challenge purchase decisions. On The Lempert Report Live weekly webcast and podcast, we cover food prices, food marketing, consumer behavior, trends and other retail insights. Please join us on Mondays at 2:30pm EST and give us your feedback and comments.