It’s been more than 100 days since President Donald Trump took office. He vowed during the election campaign to bring down food prices on day one; while egg prices are finally falling, the cost of other consumer goods remains high.
Now $6 per pound, the average price of ground beef hit a record high for the third consecutive month, jumping 15 cents since March. The cost of electricity also remained at its peak in April, according to the latest data from the consumer price index.
Still, the cost of many goods and services stayed much the same with the change of administrations, though a global trade war is certain to affect average prices from the grocery store to the pump.

John Lee shops Sept. 5 at the Save-A-Lot grocery store in Chicago's West Garfield Park neighborhood.
The Chicago Tribune is tracking 11 everyday costs for Americans and how they change (or don't) under the second Trump administration, using CPI data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Eggs
In April, the average cost of a dozen large Grade A eggs was $5.12 nationwide — falling more than a dollar, or roughly 18%, from the prior month. It's the first time egg prices decreased since October, likely due to a declining number of bird flu cases in commercial and backyard flocks.
In February, there were approximately 12.6 million birds affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In March, that number was 2.1 million, and as of April, only 1 million U.S. birds were affected.
Still, the cost of eggs remains about 24% higher than before Trump took office.
Milk
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the bird flu virus also was reported in dairy cows since March 2024.
In April, the number of newly infected dairy cows — 48 new confirmed cases at dairy farms in California, Arizona and Idaho — was double that of March and represented the greatest number of cases reported in a single month since the start of the new calendar year.
So it may not come as a surprise that the cost of milk is increasing, though far from the spikes seen in egg prices. The current average cost is only a 4-cent difference from January.
As of April, a gallon of fresh, fortified whole milk would set you back about $4.07.
Bread
According to the national average, white bread was about $1.91 per pound in April. Bread is priced about 4.3% less than it was 12 months ago.
Bananas
One item that hasn’t seen much fluctuation in recent years is bananas, hovering at $0.64 per pound as of April.
Oranges
Orange prices are expected to steadily rise in the coming months. As we exit orange season, supplies will decrease as demand increases, thus triggering higher prices. This is standard for the fruit market, with oranges being cheapest in the winter months, then increasing in cost to eventually peak in September or October each year.
Currently, the average cost per pound for navel oranges is $1.49 nationwide.
Tomatoes
In the U.S., the average price of field-grown tomatoes was $1.79 per pound as of April. That cost is slightly lower than it was the previous month and down roughly 13% since Trump took power.
Like oranges, tomato prices vary depending on the time of year, rising in the fall, peaking in the early winter months and then plummeting in the spring.
Chicken
The national average crested above $2 per pound for fresh, whole chicken for the first time last year and hit a record high of $2.08 in November. Since then, the average cost has been roughly the same. According to the latest CPI figures, chicken is $2.06 per pound.
Ground beef
Prices spiked from March to April, jumping nearly 2.5% to an all-time high, according to BLS data. The average price of 100% beef ground chuck is now $6 per pound — 15 cents more than the previous record set just last month.
This is likely due to a number of factors. In addition to several major ground beef recalls reported in recent months, the U.S. cattle inventory is at a 25-year low, and severe drought in parts of the country further reduced the feed supply, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Electricity
In April, the average price of electricity nationwide was 18 cents per kilowatt-hour. That average has remained more or less the same since May of last year, with the typical month-over-month changes registering at less than a fraction of a cent.
Still, the current cost is the highest on record — going back more than 45 years.
Gasoline
The cost of gas rose 10 cents month-over-month to $3.33 per gallon of regular unleaded, about a 6% increase from the last month of the Biden administration.
Nonetheless, prices remain about 12% lower than they were in April 2024.
Natural gas
Average prices nationwide for piped utility gas, or natural gas, sit at $1.63 per them — the highest they’ve been in two years.