The price of eggs for Easter in the USA is lower than a year ago

Egg prices in the United States have dropped by 60 percent from last year’s record levels, making it easier for consumers to fill Easter baskets and Passover Seder plates.

Avian flu was responsible for the high retail prices during the first five months of 2025, and the decline of the highly contagious disease is a major reason why prices are now much lower. An outbreak forced farmers and commercial producers to cull entire flocks of egg-laying hens, but falling case numbers in the second half of last year helped restore egg supplies, said Mark Jordan, executive director of the agricultural research firm LEAP Market Analytics.

The persistent outbreak is still affecting poultry flocks in the United States, with the number of infected commercial flocks rising in March. However, farmers have been rapidly replenishing flocks that died or had to be destroyed. Between July 2024 and July 2025, the number of egg-type chickens hatched in the U.S. increased by 8 percent. It was the first steady and significant increase in the availability of chickens raised specifically for eggs since the start of the avian flu outbreak in 2022, Jordan said.

The Trump administration’s decision to import nearly 1 billion eggs last year also helped bring prices down, Jordan said, although imports have since returned to more normal levels. The U.S. also exported fewer eggs last year to help boost domestic supply.

But what is good for consumers is not necessarily good for farmers, who are struggling to recover their costs as egg prices drop significantly. They may also have to pay more for animal feed, including cornmeal and soy, due to the war in Iran.

“Farmers are no strangers to volatility. It’s part of the business. But in recent months, many of them have been selling eggs at or below the cost of production,” said Emily Metz, president and CEO of the American Egg Board, a trade group.

Here’s a look at U.S. egg prices by the numbers, according to government data:

$2.50 per dozen: The average U.S. price for a dozen eggs in February.

$6.23 per dozen: The average U.S. price for a dozen eggs in March 2025, a record high.

315.8 million: The number of egg-laying chickens in the U.S. as of March 1. This is 8 percent higher than last year.

45 million: The number of egg-laying chickens in Iowa, the leading egg-producing state in the U.S.

205.7 million: The number of chickens and other birds in commercial and backyard flocks that have died or been culled due to avian flu since February 2022.

5.22 million: The number of chickens and other birds that died or were culled due to avian flu in March 2026. This is more than double the number affected in March 2025.

657 percent: The percentage increase in U.S. imports of shell eggs in 2025 compared to the previous year.

$1.05: The average cost for farmers to produce a dozen eggs, excluding labor and transportation, according to the American Egg Board. At the end of March, the national average wholesale price of eggs was $1.17 per dozen.

40,000: The number of real eggs that will be used for this year’s White House Easter Egg Roll.

“KORÇA BOOM”