In 2024, the retail price for a dozen eggs in the United States was 4.15 U.S. dollars. Egg prices in the United States peaked in this year. Previously, the highest average price was in 2015, when a dozen eggs cost 2.75 U.S. dollars on average. U.S. egg production The United States was one of the leading producers of eggs in the world in 2021, ranking fourth behind China, India, and Indonesia. In that year, approximately 110.7 billion eggs were produced in the United States. There are two main categories that farm chickens fall into: broiler chickens and laying hens. The first are raised for meat and the second are raised for laying eggs. The U.S. state with the most laying hens is Iowa, with about 40.2 million in 2022. Some of the other top egg producing states include Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. Egg retail in the United States Perhaps because eggs are uniform in taste and appearance and most consumers cannot tell one brand of chicken egg apart from another, private label eggs have the highest sales among fresh egg brands in the United States. Eggland’s Best is the leading name brand of fresh eggs in the United States, with sales of 274.55 million U.S. dollars in 2023. The amount that U.S. consumer units spend on eggs varies from region to region. In 2021, consumers in the Western United States spent an average of about 107 U.S. dollars on eggs over the course of the year. The Midwestern United States had the lowest average expenditure on eggs in that year.

The U.S. state with the highest number of laying hens in 2023 was Iowa with approximately 44.4 million head of chicken. The United States is also the fourth leading producer of eggs worldwide. Egg industry The global production volume of eggs reached about 86.4 million metric tons in 2021, up from about 55 million metric tons in 2000. The vast majority of the world’s chicken eggs are produced in China. In 2021, some 586 billion eggs were laid in China, about five times more than the United States. The total value of eggs produced in the United States peaked in 2015, but has since decreased. Egg retail in the United States In the United States eggs are a popular breakfast food as well as an ingredient in many recipes. Since chicken eggs seem to be more or less homogenous across different brands, private label eggs are the leading fresh egg brand in the United States in terms of dollar sales. In 2022, the best selling name brand of fresh eggs was Eggland’s Best, followed by Vital Farms and Pete & Gerry’s.

Egg production rates were determined on CCE process cruises for three species of copepod: Calanus pacificus, Metridia pacifica, and Eucalanus californicus. Copepods were collected by bongo net and adult females were promptly sorted into individual Petri dishes. Dishes were checked for eggs every 12 hours for a period of 24 hours for C. pacificus and M. pacifica, and 72 hours for E. californicus. Egg production rates are expressed as eggs per female per day. Eggs were incubated for an additional 36 hours for assessment of hatching success. The prosome length of the adult females was measured by ocular micrometer. Egg production rates can be used as a metric of secondary production.