Egg prices are high in Los Angeles - they’re even higher Downtown.
The egg crisis has hit DTLA hard. How are shoppers, chefs, and restaurant owners feeling its effects?
By Samantha Lee
Jan. 21, 2025
LOS ANGELES — The Whole Foods in Downtown LA opens at 7a.m. By 11, these days, they’ve sold out of eggs.
“Shoppers will buy five cartons at a time because they’re scared we’re not gonna get anymore,” said a clerk, Lauren Zarnick. “The shelves are dry.”
On top of that, they’re at $9 a dozen.
Since 2023, the price of eggs has risen 146.6%, according to the Wall Street Journal. In California, as of December, the average cost of a dozen large eggs hit $8.97. But some stores this week – like the Target in USC Village – showed a dozen eggs for $11.99.
Nationally, wholesale eggs averaged $4.62 per dozen, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. But, based on local competition and demand, prices vary significantly by region. Around the Midwest, according to January data, it was $5.75 per dozen. In New York, it was $6.25.
In Downtown L.A., though, eggs can’t be found – at all – on market shelves. On an empty fridge, Whole Foods displayed a sign declaring, “For now, we’re limiting purchases to three cartons per customer.”
What’s going on?
The deadliest outbreak, and now second surge since 2022, of bird flu – has killed over 100 million chickens, aggressively tightening supply.
The consequence: prices are up. And they aren’t coming down any time soon.
According to USDA’s price outlook, Californians can expect prices to soar another 20% this year.
Benjamin Weinberg, 38, just moved to LA from Harlem.
“You guys pay like twice the amount we do in New York,” he said, shopping at the Downtown LA Whole Foods. Since coming to California, he’s been ordering liquid egg whites from Amazon. “It’s probably a third of the price that way,” he said. “Including delivery.”
Still, the cost fluctuates. “It varies from $3.99 to $5.99 depending on the week,” he said. “I never really know what it’s going to be.”
To keep track of relative prices, Jonah uses Numbeo, a website that calculates the average cost of various goods between cities across the country.
Whether it’s groceries, gas or Levis jeans, Numbeo data consistently shows LA is high, and Downtown, specifically, is higher.
“I have the same mentality that I did during the ‘08 financial crisis,” he said. “I can’t spend more than what seems to be rational for the average American person.”
At a hotel around the block, bartender Luke Allistair Mallory, 41, finds grocery shopping in the area too stressful. “I’m starting to worry if I have egg money these days — or, if I can even find them,” he said.
With rising costs and stock shortages, Mallory is no longer inclined to buy eggs. “I’ve been cooking breakfast less, actually,” he said. “Or I’ve been eating bagels.
“Across the board, living costs in L.A. are pretty high,” Mallory said. “They’re starting to feel out of reach.”
“There’s a lot of people here in Downtown Los Angeles that are just barely making it,” said Jossue Lopez, 22. “Eggs are really a necessity.”
Lopez works as a line chef at Tokyo Fried Chicken next door. At the restaurant, egg-heavy banana pudding, which used to cost $6, now goes for $10.
Yeastie Boys bagels founder, Evan Fox, 39, owns trucks from DTLA to Beverly Hills to Venice Beach. “It’s not great,” he said. “My main business is egg sandwiches.” All the same, his menu prices have not changed.
“We don’t charge any extra when there’s fluctuations in produce or eggs,” he said. “We just have to eat the cost and hope that it comes back down.”
Fox, who has been working in the industry for over a decade, says volatile prices are nothing new.
“I’m used to the fluctuations,” he said. “I don’t wanna say it’s standard but there’s always something happening in the world that causes prices to change. It’ll come back down.”
Robert B. Handfield, professor of supply chain management at the North Carolina State University Poole College of Management, said a long-term price drop is not imminent. Disruptions in international supply chains in Mexico and China, as well as regulations involving foreign labor, are all at issue, he said.
“There's a lot of threats coming in with the new president,” Handfield said. “If he does start to impose tariffs on Mexico or crack down on deportation, it is going to be the death of the grocery world.”
He added, “Just about all the crops in California are gathered by immigrant workers, not American workers. So, if you start sending those folks back, guess what? We're not going to have any crops, and the price of food will go up like crazy.”
President Trump’s promise to bring down prices for consumers began during last year’s campaign, when he blamed inflation on the Biden administration.
“There’s always something that’s driving inflation. It’s something that the government can't control,” Handfield said. “People blame Biden for inflation - and that's a myth. Biden doesn't control inflation any more than he controls bird flu. There's nothing there that really can be done. Sorry to tell you that.”