The shell-egg market in one screen.

The USDA national benchmark price, regional wholesale prices, the cage-free premium, weekly inventory against its five-year band, and a bird-flu tracker, pulled from the public record. One brief a week. No forecasts, no buy signals.

Data through Sep 1, 2026 · updated Sep 1, 2026

Latest issue · Sep 1, 2026

Cage-Free Large White Up 17.7% to 53 Cents, Premium at 45%

Cage-free large white rose to 53.0 cents, up 17.7% on the week, lifting the premium over conventional to 16.4 cents. Extra large white fell 11.5% to 39.9 cents. Northwest inventory sits 33% below its five-year median.

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Inventories vs the 5-yr band, tightest first

All inventories →

The data

National board

The USDA national 5-day weighted benchmark: large white loose shell eggs (the free public benchmark), plus the other sizes and brown eggs, in cents per dozen, week over week and year over year.

7 pages

Regions

Regional wholesale prices for large white shell eggs, from the farm gate (producer FOB) to the warehouse to the store door, across the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, South Central, New York and California.

5 pages

Cage-free

The cage-free premium: national cage-free minus the conventional benchmark, plus California, where a state mandate makes the market effectively all cage-free.

2 pages

Egg products

Wholesale prices for processed egg: liquid, frozen and dried egg, in cents or dollars per pound. The downstream breaking market shell eggs are sold into, a related pressure indicator around the shell-egg benchmark.

7 pages

Inventory

Weekly shell egg inventory by region, in thousands of 30-dozen cases, against its five-year band and its four-week average. Below normal signals a tight, firming market.

7 pages

Cold storage

The national monthly stock of frozen egg product held in cold storage, in pounds, from USDA NASS. A supply-pipeline read one step downstream of the shell-egg market, reported as neutral context.

4 pages

Retail features

How hard grocery stores are advertising eggs each week: the number of stores featuring a given egg, a demand-side signal, with the advertised carton price alongside.

4 pages

HPAI tracker

Commercial egg-layer flocks confirmed infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, by detection date, with the affected-bird counts APHIS publishes. The supply shock behind the biggest price moves.

1 page

Retail prices

What shoppers actually pay at the grocery register: the US average retail price for a dozen large eggs from BLS, the wholesale benchmark beside it on a different basis, and the eggs inflation rate.

1 page

Price history

US retail egg prices back to 1980, nominal and adjusted into today's dollars, with the largest historical increases and a downloadable data file.

1 page

US production

The supply side: how many laying hens are in the US, how many eggs they lay each month, the lay rate, and production by state, from USDA NASS.

1 page

Why prices are moving

Why egg prices are rising or falling right now, updated every week the data moves.

2 pages