Grocery prices in 2009
In 2009, a dozen large eggs cost $1.66 and a gallon of regular gas cost $2.35 in the U.S., and the average hourly wage was $18.61.
2009 vs 2025
- A dozen large eggs$1.66 → $4.25 (+156%)5.4 → 8.1 minutes of work
- A pound of white bread$1.39 → $1.87 (+35%)4.5 → 3.6 minutes of work
- A gallon of regular gas$2.35 → $3.26 (+39%)7.6 → 6.2 minutes of work
- A pound of ground beef$2.22 → $6.09 (+174%)7.2 → 12 minutes of work
- A pound of sliced bacon$3.61 → $7.02 (+94%)12 → 13 minutes of work
- A pound of bananas$0.61 → $0.65 (+7%)2.0 → 1.2 minutes of work
- A pound of cheddar$4.67 → $5.84 (+25%)15 → 11 minutes of work
- A half gallon of ice cream$4.32 → $6.37 (+47%)14 → 12 minutes of work
- A 16 oz bag of potato chips$4.57 → $6.71 (+47%)15 → 13 minutes of work
- A pound of whole chicken$1.28 → $2.06 (+61%)4.1 → 3.9 minutes of work
- A pound of chocolate chip cookies$3.17 → $5.05 (+59%)10 → 9.7 minutes of work
- A pound of tomatoes$1.62 → $1.84 (+14%)5.2 → 3.5 minutes of work
- A pound of white sugar$0.57 → $1.02 (+79%)1.8 → 2.0 minutes of work
- Frozen orange juice concentrate$2.57 → $4.59 (+79%)8.3 → 8.8 minutes of work
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 $18.61 to $31.34 an hour. The whole basket above took about 112 minutes of work in 2009 and about 108 in 2025.
The biggest price rise was a pound of ground beef, +174%, from $2.22 to $6.09.
Measured in work, a pound of bananas got the most affordable: about 2.0 minutes in 2009, 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.