There are lines of people waiting to get into Trader Joe’s, Costco and other grocery stores around Long Beach early in the morning, with many shoppers hoping to score a carton of eggs — and finding sticker shock at the price increases.
The cost of a dozen eggs in California shot up to nearly $9 per dozen in January, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture , resulting in higher prices in restaurants and other food products. Nationwide, egg prices rose by 38% in 2024, bringing the national average cost of a dozen eggs to $3.65.
The reason is the loss of about 3 million egg-laying chickens in California alone due to a severe outbreak of bird flu. The United States lost upward of 20 million birds in the last quarter of 2024…