Shoppers in some parts of the country are already paying more than double the average price, or worse, finding empty shelves in their local grocery stores. Organic and cage-free varieties are even

Americans should brace for continued high egg prices this year, with estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture projecting a 20% increase.

Bird flu is forcing farmers to slaughter millions of chickens a month, pushing U.S. egg prices to more than double their cost in the summer of 2023. And it appears there may be no relief in sight, given the surge in demand as Easter approaches.

Egg prices are expected to climb 20% in 2025, far outpacing the 2.2% rise projected for overall food costs. The USDA attributes this to the ongoing avian flu outbreak, which has devastated poultry flocks, with over 136 million birds affected since 2022.

The average price of a dozen large, grade-A eggs was $4.15 in December, up from $3.65 in November, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Egg prices were also up more than 36% year-over-year in December, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Why are egg prices so high? A strain of bird flu, H5N1, has raged through coops across the U.S. It originally emerged among poultry flocks and wild birds in Europe in the fall of

The USDA estimates egg prices will go up another 20% in 2025, blaming a combination of inflation, and a bird flu outbreak that killed over 17 million egg-laying hens in the last two months of 2024.