Using Consumer Price Index data, the Tribune is tracking 11 everyday costs for Americans and how they are changing under the Trump administration.
While President Donald Trump has been in office less than a month, the costs of some consumer goods and services are trending up.
At nearly $5 a dozen, the price of eggs just surpassed record highs, and while quite moderate in comparison, bread, electricity, gasoline and natural gas also saw meager month-over-month increases, according to the latest data from the Consumer Price Index.
But before you start reworking your budget to afford a dozen Grade A, note that not all grocery prices are surging. In January, milk, oranges, tomatoes and ground beef all saw a minimal decrease in cost, while the price of bananas and poultry remained more or less the same.
While many of these month-over-month changes are not directly linked to the White House, they may soon be, with new tariffs and possible international trade wars sure to affect average prices at the grocery store and the pump.
The Tribune is tracking these 11 everyday costs for Americans — eggs, milk, bread, bananas, oranges, tomatoes, chicken, ground beef, gasoline, electricity and natural gas — and how they are changing with the new administration. This tracker will update monthly using CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
To see the average U.S. price of a specific good, click on the dropdown arrow below and select the item you wish to view.Eggs
Egg prices don’t appear to be going down anytime soon, thanks to a massive outbreak of bird flu.
In January, the cost of eggs went up by roughly 20% from the previous month. The average cost for a dozen large Grade A eggs is now $4.95 nationwide — an all-time high according to CPI data. But in Chicago-area grocery stores, egg prices exceed well above the national average — more than $7 per dozen at some locations.
The last time prices soared to similar heights was in winter 2023, when eggs hit then-record highs.
