Pricele

Grocery prices in 2002

In 2002, a dozen large eggs cost $1.03 and a gallon of regular gas cost $1.36 in the U.S., and the average hourly wage was $14.96.

2002 vs 2025

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Price Data (U.S. city average) and average hourly earnings of production and nonsupervisory employees. Yearly figures are the mean of the monthly ones. Prices are in the dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation; minutes of work is the adjustment.

What changed

The wage went from $14.96 to $31.34 an hour. The whole basket above took about 122 minutes of work in 2002 and about 124 in 2025.

The biggest price rise was a dozen large eggs, +313%, from $1.03 to $4.25.

Measured in work, a pound of bananas got the most affordable: about 2.0 minutes in 2002, about 1.2 now.

Play with these numbers

Price Year shows five receipts like this one and asks for the year. Then & Now asks what one item cost in an earlier year, and Inflation Ladder asks which rose the most.

2002 prices, answered

How much did a dozen large eggs cost in 2002?
$1.03 (per dozen, grade A large), the U.S. city average for 2002 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $14.96, it took about 4.1 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $4.25, or about 8.1 minutes.
How much did a gallon of regular gas cost in 2002?
$1.36 (per gallon, unleaded regular), the U.S. city average for 2002 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $14.96, it took about 5.5 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $3.26, or about 6.2 minutes.
How much did a pound of white bread cost in 2002?
$1.02 (per lb, white pan bread), the U.S. city average for 2002 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $14.96, it took about 4.1 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $1.87, or about 3.6 minutes.
How much did a pound of ground beef cost in 2002?
$1.71 (per lb, 100% beef), the U.S. city average for 2002 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $14.96, it took about 6.9 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $6.09, or about 12 minutes.
How much did a pound of ground coffee cost in 2002?
$2.92 (per lb, 100% ground roast), the U.S. city average for 2002 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $14.96, it took about 12 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $8.18, or about 16 minutes.
What was the average hourly wage in 2002?
$14.96 an hour, the BLS average for production and nonsupervisory employees in private industry. In 2025 it was $31.34.

Another year

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