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, 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. Those prices, like this year’s, were driven by a strain of avian influenza that led to supply shortages in stores and inflated costs for consumers.
Milk
A gallon of fresh, whole milk will set you back about $4.03 per gallon, according to the national average. That’s down about 2% from December 2024.
Prices have been hovering around $4 for the last three years or so and haven’t dipped below $3.50 since April 2021.
Bread
Another pantry staple that saw a minimal increase month-over-month was bread. According to the national average, white bread was about $1.93 per pound in January. Though the price has only seen minimal changes in the last 12 months, the cost of bread remains higher than it was just two or three years ago and about 43% higher than it was five years ago.
Bananas
One good that hasn’t seen much fluctuation in recent years: bananas. The cost of bananas has remained reliably low — hovering at $0.62 per pound as of January. Prices haven’t changed by more than 5 cents in either direction going back to January 2018.
Oranges
U.S. consumers will be happy to know the price of oranges is collapsing again, dropping more than 15% from October’s record high. Though prices are higher than normal, by large, this trend matches the typical seasonality of the fruit market, with orange prices lowest in the winter months, then increasing throughout the spring and summer and eventually peaking in September or October each year.
The average cost per pound for navel oranges is $1.53 nationwide.
Tomatoes
Though maybe not the first thing you think of when you hear the term “staple food,” tomatoes are an essential ingredient in all kinds of dishes, from pasta and pizza, to soups, salads and BLT sandwiches.
In the U.S., the average price of field-grown tomatoes was $2.05 per pound as of January. While still well below the highs seen in the early 2000s and beginning of 2016, the average cost of tomatoes has been steadily increasing, and is about 30 cents higher than the 20-year average.
Chicken
Chicken prices have also been hard hit by bird flu — though not nearly as much as egg prices. The national average crested above $2 per pound for fresh, whole chicken for the first time last year and hit a record high of $2.08 in November.
In January, the average price dipped slightly to $2.06 per pound.
Ground Beef
The cost of ground beef has also been steadily trending upwards, with the average price of 100% beef ground chuck $5.50 per pound as of last month. That’s 40 cents more than it was this time last year and a 34% change in five years.
Still, the price came down by about 1.4% from December — a difference of 8 cents.
Electricity
In January, the average price of electricity nationwide was approximately 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. While that average has remained more or less the same since May of last year, like the cost of many other goods and services, there’s been a gradual increase in the price of electricity since 2020 — a rate of roughly 1 cent per year.
Gasoline
One place Americans have seen a bit of relief on their pocketbooks? The gas station.
Despite a slight uptick from December to January, the cost of gasoline had been decreasing in recent months, with the average price per gallon of regular unleaded $3.21. The average price at the pump hasn’t been that low since June 2021.
Prices in Chicago, meanwhile, are about 12 cents higher, with the average price sitting at $3.33 per gallon, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Natural Gas
Piped utility gas, or natural gas, is another expense that’s dropped in cost from the historic highs observed two years ago.
Average prices nationwide now sit at $1.55 per therm. While relatively lower than the price spikes from mid-2022 to early 2023, natural gas costs are almost 40 cents higher than 20-year average and saw a slight increase month-over-month from December to January.