Pricele

Grocery prices in 2004

In 2004, a dozen large eggs cost $1.34 and a pound of white bread cost $0.97 in the U.S., and the average hourly wage was $15.68.

2004 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 $15.68 to $31.34 an hour. The whole basket above took about 116 minutes of work in 2004 and about 118 in 2025.

The biggest price rise was a dozen large eggs, +217%, from $1.34 to $4.25.

Measured in work, a pound of tomatoes got the most affordable: about 6.2 minutes in 2004, about 3.5 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.

2004 prices, answered

How much did a dozen large eggs cost in 2004?
$1.34 (per dozen, grade A large), the U.S. city average for 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $15.68, it took about 5.1 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $4.25, or about 8.1 minutes.
How much did a pound of white bread cost in 2004?
$0.97 (per lb, white pan bread), the U.S. city average for 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $15.68, it took about 3.7 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $1.87, or about 3.6 minutes.
How much did a pound of ground beef cost in 2004?
$2.16 (per lb, 100% beef), the U.S. city average for 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $15.68, it took about 8.3 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $6.09, or about 12 minutes.
How much did a pound of ground coffee cost in 2004?
$2.85 (per lb, 100% ground roast), the U.S. city average for 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $15.68, it took about 11 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $8.18, or about 16 minutes.
How much did a pound of sliced bacon cost in 2004?
$3.38 (per lb, sliced), the U.S. city average for 2004 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At that year's average hourly wage of $15.68, it took about 13 minutes of work. In 2025 it cost $7.02, or about 13 minutes.
What was the average hourly wage in 2004?
$15.68 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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