The point in 30 seconds
Divide the price by hourly earnings and multiply by 60. That gives you minutes of gross work per unit. It answers a useful, specific question about affordability.
The formula works for any priced item
Suppose an item costs $3 and you earn $15 an hour. It takes 12 minutes of gross work to buy it. In a second hypothetical period, the item costs $4 and pay is $25 an hour. Now it takes 9.6 minutes.
| Measure | Period A | Period B |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $3.00 | $4.00 |
| Gross hourly pay | $15.00 | $25.00 |
| Work time | 12 minutes | 9.6 minutes |
The dollar price rose 33.3%. The work time fell 20%. The item became more expensive in dollars and less expensive in work time.
This arithmetic is not specific to food. It applies whenever we have a price, a consistent quantity, and an earnings measure. The hard part is making sure the historical inputs belong together.
A real comparison: one dozen eggs
The BLS U.S. city-average price for a dozen large Grade A eggs was $0.898 in September 1980 and $2.272 in September 2026. The matching production and nonsupervisory earnings benchmark was $6.97 and $32.54 per hour. [3] [4]
Using the formula, work time fell from 7.73 minutes to 4.19 minutes. The price increased about 153.0%, while gross work time decreased about 45.8%. These are our calculations from the cited observations, rounded only for display.
Both series are not seasonally adjusted. September 2026 earnings are preliminary. The result describes this item and benchmark across these two months, not the experience of every worker or every year in between.
What this number leaves out
Gross pay is pay before deductions. It is not what lands in your bank account. The benchmark is an average, not the median worker’s earnings, and changes in the mix of jobs can change the average. [7]
Rent, childcare, health costs, taxes, debt payments, and whether you have enough paid hours still matter. A household can need fewer work minutes for eggs while struggling more with its total budget.
There is a measurement limit, too. BLS average retail prices can change with the products and stores in the sample. They are useful price estimates, but they are not a pure measure of inflation. [5]
Long-run progress and a recent squeeze can coexist
BLS reported a 0.7% decline in real average hourly earnings for all employees on private nonfarm payrolls from September 2025 to September 2026, seasonally adjusted. [6] That is a broader inflation-adjusted pay measure with a different employee population and seasonal treatment from our historical TimePrice benchmark.
The recent decline does not erase the egg comparison. The egg comparison does not erase the recent decline. They cover different periods and answer different questions.
Technology requires another distinction. A television CPI index measures price change for a category while accounting for quality. [16] An index value is not a television’s retail price. TimePrice therefore shows relative technology price and work-time changes, with any dollar anchor clearly labeled as your assumption.
Use the tool to explore a claim. Then check its dates, its wage benchmark, and its limits before turning it into a statement about life overall.
Sources & dates
Sources checked November 1, 2026. Release dates, observation periods, and retrieval dates are different. Later releases may revise the data.
- BLS: Eggs, Grade A, large, per dozen Latest release October 14, 2026; snapshot retrieved November 1, 2026 · Observed national data
APU0000708111; U.S. city average; USD/dozen; not seasonally adjusted. Observations used: September 1980 and September 2026.
- BLS: Average hourly earnings, production and nonsupervisory employees Latest release October 2, 2026; snapshot retrieved November 1, 2026 · Observed national data
CEU0500000008; U.S. total private industry; USD/hour; not seasonally adjusted. September 2026 is preliminary.
- BLS: CPI average price methodology Methodology checked November 1, 2026 · Measurement method
Average retail prices differ from constant-quality price indexes.
- BLS: Real Earnings, September 2026 Released October 14, 2026 · Observed national data
All employees on private nonfarm payrolls; September 2025 to September 2026; seasonally adjusted. Distinct from the nominal production and nonsupervisory TimePrice series.
- BLS: Current Employment Statistics concepts Last modified February 28, 2025 · Measurement method
Gross earnings, hours, employee coverage and composition effects.
- BLS: Quality adjustment in the CPI Methodology checked November 1, 2026 · Measurement method
Category-specific methods for handling product quality changes.