May 06, 2026
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
A gallon of gas now costs an average of $4.50 as prices have skyrocketed since the start of the war in Iran. It's not the only everyday product that's been on a steady climb this year.
Gas prices in Pennsylvania and the wider U.S. continue to creep toward the highest recorded average — and fuel isn't the only thing breaking the bank.
Since American and Israeli forces bombed Iran in late February, the cost of several commodities has shot up. Iran has effectively shuttered the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world's liquified natural gas and oil flows, making for the largest oil supply disruption in history. The bottleneck has stoked energy prices and overall inflation around the globe.
What does that mean for everyday staples like eggs, milk, bread, meat and gasoline? It's not all bad news, but it's certainly not great. Here's where things stand, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and AAA.
The cost of a dozen eggs hit $6.23 last year amid an outbreak of avian influenza, leading several Philly restaurants to up their brunch pricing. While the bird flu hasn't fully subsided, egg cartons have become exponentially cheaper. The BLS prices a dozen eggs at $2.35, as of March.
Poultry prices have remained fairly steady over the past 20 years, experiencing none of the sharp spikes or dives other commodities have weathered. A whole chicken costs about $2.03 per pound, according to the BLS.
Ground chuck, on the other hand, has hit its highest price point in at least two decades. (The BLS charts only go back to 2006.) The beef product now costs a whopping $6.68 per pound, the BLS says, after a steady, yearslong climb. Ground chuck hasn't dipped below $5 per pound since May 2023. That's because of an exceptionally small stock of cattle, thinned by drought and increasing feed prices.
Like chicken, bread has been one of the more dependable grocery items. Customers are currently paying about $1.81 per pound of white bread. That price tag hasn't changed much more than a few cents in recent years; it briefly swelled to $2.03 in January 2024.
Whole milk has been hovering around the $4 mark per gallon for roughly four years now, creeping closer to $4.20 last summer and during the second half of 2022. It's currently priced at $4.07, according to the BLS.
Pump prices have been the national story for over nine weeks, and for good reason. Since the outbreak of war in Iran, gasoline costs have surpassed $3 and now $4 per gallon. The current national average is $4.483 for regular gas, or $4.571 in Pennsylvania. That's not so far off from the highest record, reached in June 2022. A gallon of regular gasoline cost an average of $5.016 then, and some economists think the U.S. might be heading for a repeat.
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