Which State Produces The Most Eggs?

Eggs are an essential component of basic bakes, hearty breakfasts and the curried deviled eggs topped with pickled carrots starring on your buffet table. In the United States, however, the egg market is taking a hit, which can largely be attributed to the spread of avian flu. As egg production dwindles, grocery stores are seeing record-breaking price tags hitting cartons. Eggs are a crucial facet of American agriculture, but a few Midwest states top the charts. Just as one state makes 88% of the butter in the U.S., some regions are more conducive to the egg industry than others. Iowa, Indiana and Ohio boast the highest egg output, with Iowa topping the leaderboard.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. produces more poultry than any country. The United States is also is a leading producer of eggs — next to China, India, Mexico, and Japan — and in 2019, reached more than 13 billion eggs, per the USDA.

According to World Population Review, Iowa produced one billion eggs in 2022. Indiana wasn't far behind with 939.2 million. In an article published in 2020, the USDA reported that nearly half of the country's egg production was focused in the Midwest. The eggs we eat are unfertilized if they're bought commercially, and make up a majority of the eggs produced in the United States. A much smaller percentage are fertilized, and will eventually grow chickens.

If you've ever been to the U.K., you may have noticed that British eggs don't have to be refrigerated. This is because eggs in the U.S. are processed differently than in many other parts of the world. Since the 1970s, the United States agricultural industry has required that these unfertilized eggs be promptly washed with soap and water and then dried. Some countries, like Canada and Japan, follow the same protocol. While this step is intended to protect consumers from illness, it also impacts the cuticle that shields the egg from bacteria. However, a 2013 study published in the International Journal of Food Microbiology found that this didn't increase the presence of salmonella.