Mike CarterEvery backyard keeper I know does the same math at some point: what are my eggs actually worth? Whether you sell a few dozen at the farm stand or just like knowing what your flock saves you at the store, the number that matters is the official average retail price, and it moves more than people think.
The table below tracks the U.S. city average price for a dozen Grade A large eggs, straight from Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It updates automatically every month when BLS publishes new numbers, so bookmark this page if you price your own eggs against the store.
| Month | Avg price (dozen) | vs prior month | vs year ago |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-05 | $4.55 | -0.57 | +68.5% |
| 2025-06 | $3.77 | -0.77 | +39.0% |
| 2025-07 | $3.60 | -0.18 | +16.9% |
| 2025-08 | $3.59 | -0.01 | +12.0% |
| 2025-09 | $3.49 | -0.10 | -8.7% |
| 2025-11 | $2.86 | -0.63 | -21.6% |
| 2025-12 | $2.71 | -0.15 | -34.6% |
| 2026-01 | $2.58 | -0.14 | -48.0% |
| 2026-02 | $2.50 | -0.08 | -57.6% |
| 2026-03 | $2.35 | -0.15 | -62.3% |
| 2026-04 | $2.25 | -0.10 | -56.1% |
| 2026-05 | $2.19 | -0.06 | -51.8% |
| 2026-06 | $2.14 | -0.05 | -43.3% |
Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics via FRED (series APU0000708111). Updated monthly; latest month 2026-06.
How to read this as a chicken keeper
A store dozen is your baseline, not your ceiling. Fresh backyard eggs routinely sell for 1.5x to 2x the supermarket average because buyers are paying for yolk quality and freshness, not just protein. When the tracker shows prices climbing, that premium usually holds or widens. When retail prices fall, farm-stand prices tend to be sticky; regulars rarely ask for a discount.
The year-over-year column is the one worth watching. Feed costs follow grain markets, and egg prices follow feed with a lag of a few months. If you see retail prices up sharply from last year, feed is usually the reason, and your production cost went up too.
One caution from experience: do not set your price off a single month. The monthly average bounces around supply shocks, and avian flu events can spike it 50 cents in a quarter. Price off the 3-month trend and you will not be repricing every week.