Money

Charted: How U.S. Food Prices Have Surged Since 2021

Published

1 month ago

February 17, 2025

Jeff Desjardins

See this visualization first on the Voronoi app.

How U.S. Food Prices Have Surged Since 2021

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Eggflation? Eggstortion? Eggpocalypse?

Regardless of what you call it, the explosion in egg prices is real.

In this chart, creator Statista looks at how U.S. food prices have changed between January 2021 and January 2025, based on data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

Egg Prices Lead With Triple-Digit Surge

In just four years, egg prices have shot up 238%.

As of January 2021, a dozen eggs cost $1.47, but the chart has gone parabolic since, with the price now averaging $4.95 per dozen.

Rank	Food	Change in Price (2021-2025)
1	Eggs	238%
2	Coffee	53%
3	Sugar	48%
4	Ground beef	40%
5	Butter	35%
6	Ice cream	29%
7	Rice	27%
8	Flour	26%
9	Soft drinks	25%
10	White bread	25%
11	Chicken breast	22%
12	Whole milk	16%
13	Pork chops	15%
14	Tomatoes	6%
15	Bananas	4%
16	Cheddar	1%
	Nominal U.S. wage growth	20%

While egg prices stand out the most in the above table, there are other staples that have increased at more than double the rate of U.S. nominal wage growth (20%).

Coffee (53%), sugar (48%), and ground beef (40%) have all seen big surges, putting a sizable dent in consumer wallets in the process.

Why Are Egg Prices Skyrocketing?

There are two main components to the egg price surge.

The first is the Avian flu outbreak, which has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of egg-laying birds across the United States. This is simple economics in that a sudden supply shock means higher prices for eggs.

The second reason is general inflationary pressures—these are some of the same pressures affecting other food items on the list above. In short, higher feed, fuel, and labor costs are being passed on to consumers by farmers.

Add these two factors together, and you get the triple-digit increase—along with many frustrated breakfast-eating consumers.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

If you add up the mass of all poultry on the planet, how much would they weigh relative to the total weight of all birds? Well, there’s a visualization for that on Voronoi, the app by Visual Capitalist.