The Democrats' best card
Obama −14%
From $1.85 to $1.60, January 2009 to January 2017.
The chart they hide: Biden +238%
AI illustrationEggs
Eggs: the breakfast price that became a campaign slogan
One carton became a political weapon. See how wild the swings really are and who got blamed for them.
- Grade A large, per dozen · September 2026
- $2.27
- vs. a year ago
- −35%
- Record high · March 2025
- $6.23
- Record low · May 1988
- $0.68
The whole story, month by month
Democrats vs. Republicans
Democrats+6.2%per year in office, over 21 years and 4 presidencies
Republicans−1.2%per year in office, over 26 years and 5 presidencies
Both sides have a chart to wave
The Republicans' best card
Trump II (so far) −54%
From $4.95 to $2.27, January 2025 to September 2026.
The chart they hide: G.W. Bush +83%
Every president, ranked
Percent change during each term. Best to worst.
- Trump II (so far)−54%
- Obama−14%
- Trump I−8.3%
- G.H.W. Bush−4.6%
- Reagan−0.2%
- Carter+7.3%
- Clinton+13%
- G.W. Bush+83%
- Biden+238%
Why this number starts fights
Egg prices became shorthand for the cost of living in the last campaigns. The sharpest spikes track bird flu outbreaks that forced farmers to cull laying hens, not anything a White House signed. That does not stop either party from using the carton as a prop.
How to read it without getting played
No president controls this number alone. Congress, the Federal Reserve, global markets, wars, pandemics and the economy they inherited all move it. A term's score shows what happened on their watch, not what they caused. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling a side.
Method: percent change from the month a president took office to the month the term ended. The party figure is the annualized rate across all its years in office.
More numbers people fight about
Show the yearly table
| Year | Value |
|---|---|
| 2026 | $2.27 |
| 2025 | $2.71 |
| 2024 | $4.15 |
| 2023 | $2.51 |
| 2022 | $4.25 |
| 2021 | $1.79 |
| 2020 | $1.48 |
| 2019 | $1.54 |
| 2018 | $1.60 |
| 2017 | $1.82 |
| 2016 | $1.38 |
| 2015 | $2.75 |
| 2014 | $2.21 |
| 2013 | $2.03 |
| 2012 | $2.01 |
| 2011 | $1.87 |
| 2010 | $1.79 |
| 2009 | $1.77 |
| 2008 | $1.83 |
| 2007 | $2.10 |
| 2006 | $1.54 |
| 2005 | $1.35 |
| 2004 | $1.20 |
| 2003 | $1.56 |
| 2002 | $1.18 |
| 2001 | $0.93 |
| 2000 | $0.96 |
| 1999 | $0.92 |
| 1998 | $1.09 |
| 1997 | $1.17 |
| 1996 | $1.31 |
| 1995 | $1.16 |
| 1994 | $0.87 |
| 1993 | $0.87 |
| 1992 | $0.93 |
| 1991 | $1.01 |
| 1990 | $1.00 |
| 1989 | $1.14 |
| 1988 | $0.83 |
| 1987 | $0.73 |
| 1986 | $0.91 |
| 1985 | $0.91 |
| 1984 | $0.87 |
| 1983 | $1.13 |
| 1982 | $0.81 |
| 1981 | $0.97 |
| 1980 | $1.03 |