How Much A Dozen Eggs Cost The Year You Were Born

Daily Meal Blog ^ | August, 2019 | Daily Meal Staff

[Diana in Wisconsin]

The humble egg is one of those foods that pops up just about everywhere. An egg can be cooked in dozens, if not hundreds, of different preparations, and just like any other commodity, the price has really fluctuated over the years.

Tracking down the retail price of a dozen Grade A eggs over the decades wasn't an easy task, as prices have varied from store to store over the years, and supermarkets haven't kept track of prices for decades on end. So in order to get an annual retail price that we could stand behind, we worked with the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, which provided documents from the Consumer Price Index with annual average prices for a dozen Grade A eggs dating back to 1890. As these are the government's figures, compiled by visiting businesses that sell eggs and collecting price quotes on a monthly basis (so going beyond just flipping through the prices in old supermarket circulars), these are as close to "official" prices as we're likely to find.

Egg prices have gone up and down over the past 80 years, but on the whole, a dozen eggs have gotten a lot less expensive than they used to be, once we adjust for inflation. So if you took any trips to the grocery store with a parent when you were a baby, read on to learn how much they would have paid for a dozen eggs each year between 1937 and 2005.

[Robert DeLong]

I don’t think he gets that many eggs a day I’ve seen his chickens, and while I didn’t official count them, I reckon they number about 7. You sound like someone that should get you a few. 🙂👍

[Pardeeville Liberator]

I was born in 1936. We didn’t buy Eggs we sold them. We always raised 200 to 300 Chickens. We were a Family of 6. We would take a 12 Dozen crate of Eggs to the Grocery store and trade them for the food we didn’t raise on the farm. Our Eggs kept us fed.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

In the mining camps in the late 1800’s eggs were $10 each.

Reminds me of the Jack London story The One Thousand Dozen.

[Fiji Hill]

When I was born, Sabre Jets and MiGs were shooting at each other over Pyongyang and the USC Trojans, under their new coach Jess Hill, upset the Cal Golden Bears 21-14 in Berkeley. The rock and roll era had begun, as Rocket 88 topped the Rhythm and blues charts and I Want to Be With You Always sat atop the Country-Western charts--and eggs were 74 cents a dozen.

[crz]

We got a 18 carton and a dozen carton for free the a few days ago.

Been getting them constantly. Neighbors got about 15 hens and they are all laying. He has been giving them away since they started laying.

We all send him our potato peelings, etc to supplement his chickens and hogs.

I intend to put in a patch of dryland wheat for him next year. Was going to do it this, but last winter we got zero for rain.

[Magnum44]

[HonorInPa]

Born in 1957 and eggs were $.57 / dozen. Using an inflation calculator, that is $6.95 today but eggs are more down to $4.90 - way better than inflation.

[Savage Beast]

Corrupt politicians and other unscrupulous parasites have been exploiting the American People and mining the US economy for more than a century.

We can thank God for sending Donald Trump to expose it and help put a stop to it.

When you consider the magnitude of wealth generated in and concentrated in the USA, it's inevitable that greedy looters would figure out how to seize as much of it as they can. Corrupt government and corrupt politicians are not victimless. The price of protecting against their exploitation is--like liberty--eternal vigilance.

[George from New England]

Potato is said by some to be bad for them. Check it out.

[TexasFreeper2009]

The governments goal of 4% inflation basically doubles the price of ANYTHING every 20 years.

so:
1940 .33 cents
1960 .66 cents
1980 $1.32
2000 $2.64
2020 $5.28

Eggs are exactly priced where you would expect them to be

[TexasFreeper2009]

most poor people dont understand inflation and how it works against them

basically, if your net worth is not DOUBLING every 20 years, you are actually falling behind and don’t even realize it.

[crz]

We have always dumped peelings down for them to pick through.

Always.

All these goody two shoe assholes.

[mairdie]

1944: 55 cents
The price of eggs had more or less stabilized by the time the U.S. troops landed in France in 1944.

But my markers were always
College: Brussels sprouts 4 cents each.
Marriage: Hamburger 29 cents/lb.

[deport]

We always raised 200 to 300 Chickens.

**********

Ditto. I grew up with chickens abound. My dad sold the eggs
to a processing facility by the 48 dozen crates. We had a small
cafe like facility where the north/south/east/west buses cross.
My mom made sandwhiches, egg salad - chicken-salad thus my
dose of chickens abounded. It took many years before I enjoyed
any kind of chicken for food.

[Pete from Shawnee Mission]

What? Woof! Seriously Chewy, Read that article title again. You are demanding something from the article that it did not set out to provide. The title tells you that it is NOT a DOL or USDA discussion of current wages and egg prices. The article involved a lot of research and the authors documented what they set out to do. Enjoy the nostalgia!

If that particular statistic is important to you, and you can't find the information at pretty much every whining complaining current news site out there, you have the internet. Some starting points:

https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/statistics/wagesearnings

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/ams_3725.pdf

[ransomnote]

I really enjoy the photos and snippets of food culture for each year.

[Tired of Taxes]

I was buying a dozen eggs for 99 cents until the 2020 lockdown. I always bought them on sale at the supermarket.

[George from New England]

So maybe just a cow no no

[null and void]

In inflation adjusted dollars eggs were more expensive the year I was born.

Unless you spring for the Vital Farms eggs! Much more expensive but amazingly wonderful!

[LouAvul]

The pics don’t match the dates. 1938 is showing a ‘55 Chevy. For example.