The Country With The Most Expensive Eggs Actually Isn't The US

Despite the sticker shock Americans may feel at the grocery store, the United States doesn't actually top the list for egg prices. According to 2025 data from Numbeo, a platform that collects crowdsourced cost-of-living information from users around the world, Switzerland holds the title for the most expensive eggs with a whopping $7.31 average per dozen. The U.S., by contrast, hovers at No. 12 on the list with a $4.31 average per dozen eggs.

Numbeo's rankings are based on user-submitted data and updated every few months. The data isn't peer-reviewed, so it should be taken with a grain of salt, but it offers a rough estimate of what to expect pricewise. According to Numbeo's list, New Zealand ($6.53 per dozen), Iceland ($6.25 per dozen), and Denmark ($4.99 per dozen) also outpaced the U.S. in egg prices. Why are eggs so pricey in other countries? They have issues much like what consumers are facing in the U.S. — inflation, avian flu outbreaks, and supply chain issues. But in others, including Switzerland, there's a slightly different set of reasons behind those breakfast sticker shocks.

Switzerland's eye-watering egg prices aren't simply about inflation or bird flu. They're also due to the country's economic food policies. Switzerland has protectionist laws on agriculture. This means the country imposes high tariffs on imported food products, with tariffs on meat, vegetables, and dairy products ringing in at around 100%. These steep tariffs are designed to protect small-scale Swiss farmers from international competition, but they also make foreign eggs — and most other foodstuffs — very expensive.

Transport costs also factor in. Switzerland's mountainous terrain complicates logistics and means that getting eggs in from elsewhere simply requires more time, labor, and money. Add to this the high labor costs and a strong Swiss Franc (a strong currency makes imports pricier when converted back into Francs), and you've got the perfect storm for expensive groceries. This all means that food in Switzerland is quite expensive, and a difficult place to visit if you're looking to save money on food while traveling.

Eggs have become an economic flashpoint in the United States. Prices spiked to an all-time high of $8.17 per dozen before dipping to $4.90 in March 2025. These record-breaking prices have been concerning consumers not just about eggs themselves, but about broader cost-of-living issues. A lot of these issues are connected to inflation — fast food has also gotten super-expensive, partially due to that same inflation.

The egg pricing surge has also been driven up by avian flu outbreaks, leading to the deaths of over 169 million chickens across the U.S. since 2022. While bird flu has affected many countries, the U.S. market is particularly sensitive because it has many large factory farms where a single outbreak can take out millions of hens. The situation has improved since the March 2025 peak with a 12.7% drop in reported prices in April 2025 – the largest monthly decrease since 1984 — thanks to fewer avian flu outbreaks and increased egg imports from South Korea, Brazil, and Turkey. But, with egg prices still nearly 80% higher than a year ago, a beloved fluffy egg scramble is going to hit your wallet a bit harder.