The price of eggs reported by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics used in the January Consumer Price Index (CPI), was $4.95 per dozen.  In many places it is higher than this.  In the Midwest if you know where to look, you can still get them for less than that.  Plus this is for prices paid in January and eggs have likely increased since then.

How do eggs stack up with the other meat products?

Well, the first problem is that all the egg prices are given in $/dozen.  How much does a dozen eggs weigh?  Hum.  Funny you should ask.  The grading of eggs into small, medium, large, and extra large is based on weight of the eggs.  It turns out 12 large eggs weigh 24 ounces.  That is a pound and a half (24 oz./16 oz. in 1 pound = 1.5 lb.).

We don’t eat egg shells.  It turns out shells make up about 11 percent of egg weight.  Reducing the 24 oz weight of a dozen eggs by 11 percent take the egg weight down to 21.4 oz/dozen.  That reduces the weight of a dozen eggs down to 1.34 pounds.

$4.95 for 1.34 pounds of eggs reduces down to $3.71 per pound.

All of the prices are not available on the BLS website, but we happily pay for our coffee, so I added that in for fun.  The $3.71 per pound of eggs places it at nearly half the price of bacon and coffee ($7/lb.), but still nearly double the $2/lb., price of chicken.  Also, a lower price per pound than ground beef.

It is not easy paying so much for eggs.  They are in a tough spot these days.  But once the chickens get beyond the deaths from the bird flu, the price should level out again.