Food spending statistics at a glance
Food spending is one of the clearest windows into how U.S. household budgets actually work. The numbers below show a split that is easy to miss in broad consumer spending headlines: food at home and food away from home both matter, but they move differently, scale differently, and tell different stories about income, convenience, and the wider food system (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026; USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
Table of contents
- Fast facts
- Household food spending by year
- What the 2024 totals say
- Food spending by income quintile
- How the food dollar is split
- What these statistics are useful for
Fast facts
- In 2024, total U.S. household food spending was $10,169 per year, or $847 per month (BLS Housing and transportation accounted for 50 percent of household spending in 2024, 2026).
- In 2024, food accounted for 12.9 percent of total household spending (BLS Housing and transportation accounted for 50 percent of household spending in 2024, 2026).
- In 2024, food at home accounted for $6,224 in annual household spending (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024 A01 Results, 2026).
- In 2024, food away from home accounted for $3,945 in annual household spending (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024 A01 Results, 2026).
- In 2024, total U.S. food expenditures reached $2.58 trillion (USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
- In 2024, food away from home represented 58.9 percent of total U.S. food expenditures (USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
Household food spending by year
The annual series makes one thing obvious: food at home rose steadily over the full 2010 to 2024 period, while food away from home moved more unevenly and was more exposed to disruptions. That contrast matters because the two categories behave differently inside household budgets and inside the broader food economy (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026).
| Year | Food at home | Food away from home |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | $3,624 | $2,505 |
| 2011 | $3,838 | $2,620 |
| 2012 | $3,921 | $2,678 |
| 2013 | $3,977 | $2,625 |
| 2014 | $3,971 | $2,787 |
| 2015 | $4,015 | $3,008 |
| 2016 | $4,049 | $3,154 |
| 2017 | $4,363 | $3,365 |
| 2018 | $4,464 | $3,459 |
| 2019 | $4,643 | $3,526 |
| 2020 | $4,935 | $2,375 |
| 2021 | $5,259 | $3,030 |
| 2022 | $5,703 | $3,639 |
| 2023 | $6,053 | $3,933 |
| 2024 | $6,224 | $3,945 |
What stands out in the series
- Food at home increased every year from $3,624 in 2010 to $6,224 in 2024, a gain that signals a long, steady rise in household grocery spending (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026).
- Food away from home climbed from $2,505 in 2010 to $3,945 in 2024, but the path was less linear and included a sharp break in 2020 before recovery resumed (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026).
- The gap between the two categories widened over time, which suggests that groceries absorbed a larger and larger share of the household food budget even as dining out remained substantial (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026).
The 2020 disruption matters
In 2020, food at home was $4,935 while food away from home fell to $2,375 (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026). That is the clearest break in the full time series and it separates the series into two broad periods: a pre-2020 build-up and a post-2020 adjustment.
For readers comparing food spending statistics across years, that break is useful because it shows how quickly the balance between grocery spending and restaurant spending can change when behavior shifts.
What the 2024 totals say
The 2024 household and national totals tell a consistent story. Households spent more on food than many people expect, but the national picture also shows that spending is split across different channels and different parts of the food system (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024 A01 Results, 2026; USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
Household perspective
The BLS household figure puts total food spending at $10,169 per year in 2024, or $847 per month (BLS Housing and transportation accounted for 50 percent of household spending in 2024, 2026). Within that total, food at home was $6,224 and food away from home was $3,945 (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024 A01 Results, 2026).
That means the food budget is not just a grocery budget. For many households, restaurant and takeout spending remains a major line item, even when groceries still account for the larger share.
National perspective
The USDA ERS figures show total U.S. food expenditures at $2.58 trillion in 2024 (USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025). Of that amount, $1.52 trillion went to food away from home and $1.06 trillion went to food at home (USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
That split is important because it shows how much economic weight sits outside the grocery aisle. Food away from home represented 58.9 percent of total U.S. food expenditures in 2024, while food at home accounted for the remaining share (USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
Household and national measures do not mean the same thing
These sources are both useful, but they answer slightly different questions. The BLS household measure is about average household spending, while the USDA ERS figures describe national food expenditure totals and shares (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024 A01 Results, 2026; USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
That distinction matters when you interpret the numbers:
- Household averages help show how spending feels in a typical budget.
- National totals help show how large the food economy is overall.
Food spending by income quintile
Income changes the shape of food spending, but not always in the way people assume. Higher-income households spend more in absolute dollars across both categories, yet the structure of that spending also shifts in noticeable ways (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024).
| Income quintile | Total food spending | Food at home | Food away from home |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest | $5,278 | $3,707 | $1,571 |
| Second | $7,100 | $4,680 | $2,421 |
| Third | $8,989 | $5,756 | $3,234 |
| Fourth | $11,550 | $6,917 | $4,633 |
| Highest | $16,996 | $9,198 | $7,797 |
Reading the quintile pattern
The step-up from the lowest to the highest quintile is large across both categories. Food spending rises from $5,278 in the lowest quintile to $16,996 in the highest quintile, which shows how strongly food budgets expand with income (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024).
Food at home also rises sharply, from $3,707 to $9,198 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024). Food away from home rises even more aggressively in absolute terms, from $1,571 to $7,797 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024).
The restaurant share grows with income
One useful way to interpret the quintile data is to compare the composition of each budget. In the lowest quintile, food away from home is a smaller slice of total food spending than it is in the highest quintile (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024).
That pattern is easy to see in the raw numbers:
- Lowest quintile: $3,707 at home versus $1,571 away from home.
- Highest quintile: $9,198 at home versus $7,797 away from home.
The higher the income group, the closer the two categories become in absolute size. That does not mean groceries stop mattering. It means households with more money have more room to buy convenience, prepared food, and meals away from home.
Why the quintiles are useful
Income quintiles are one of the best ways to avoid flattening the food spending story into a single average. They show how the same broad category can behave differently depending on budget room, household preferences, and the degree to which meals are purchased ready-to-eat instead of prepared at home (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024).
How the food dollar is split
The USDA ERS food dollar data adds another layer. It does not just show what consumers spend. It shows how the value of a food dollar is distributed across the food system (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
Food dollar breakdown
| Measure | 2024 value |
|---|---|
| Farm share for all food items | 11.8 cents per food dollar |
| Food-at-home farm share | 18.5 cents per food dollar |
| Food-away-from-home farm share | 7.1 cents per food dollar |
| Food services industry group value added | 38.6 cents per food dollar |
| Food services industry value added | $836.8 billion |
| Farm production contribution | 6.7 cents per food dollar |
| Workers in the food system | 54.1 cents per food dollar |
| Property income | 32.7 cents per food dollar |
| Output taxes | 7.2 cents per food dollar |
What the food dollar data shows
The food dollar is a supply-chain lens. It shows that a consumer payment is not just paying for ingredients. It also covers labor, services, property income, taxes, and other parts of the value chain (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
A few details stand out:
- Workers in the food system received $1.17 trillion for their labor in 2024, equal to 54.1 cents per food dollar (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
- Property income was $710 billion, equal to 32.7 cents per food dollar (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
- Output taxes were 7.2 cents per food dollar (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
The food-away-from-home side is especially service-heavy. Labor use in food-away-from-home was 59.1 cents per dollar of output, 12.0 cents more than food at home (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025). That difference helps explain why restaurant and prepared-food spending can behave differently from grocery spending even when both are part of the same food budget.
Food at home versus food away from home in the supply chain
The food-at-home farm share was 18.5 cents per food dollar, compared with 7.1 cents per food dollar for food away from home (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025). That is a useful reminder that the same household dollar can flow through very different economic structures depending on whether the purchase is a grocery item or a meal out.
What these statistics are useful for
Food spending statistics are useful because they connect household budgeting with broader economic structure. They can help answer practical questions about groceries, dining out, inflation sensitivity, income differences, and how much of the food dollar actually reaches farms, workers, and service providers (BLS The New Year and household spending, 2026; USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025; USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
Good uses for these numbers
- Comparing grocery costs and restaurant spending over time.
- Estimating how much food fits inside an average household budget.
- Building household budget content for different income levels.
- Understanding how the food system splits value between labor, farms, and services.
- Tracking long-run changes in where families spend food dollars.
Practical takeaways from the data
- Food at home is the larger annual household food category in 2024, but food away from home is still large enough to matter in any budget analysis (BLS Consumer Expenditures—2024 A01 Results, 2026).
- The highest income quintile spends much more on food away from home than the lowest quintile, which shows how income expands convenience-oriented spending (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023, 2024).
- The national food economy is heavily weighted toward food away from home, which accounted for 58.9 percent of total U.S. food expenditures in 2024 (USDA ERS Food Prices and Spending, 2025).
- The food dollar is mostly a labor-and-services story, not just a farm story, especially in the away-from-home category (USDA ERS Food Dollar Summary Findings, 2025).
A final data point worth remembering
If you only remember one figure from this set, remember the 2024 household total: $10,169 per year, or $847 per month, for food spending (BLS Housing and transportation accounted for 50 percent of household spending in 2024, 2026). That single number gives the cleanest snapshot of how large food is inside a typical U.S. household budget, while the rest of the data shows how that total breaks apart by category, income, and economic channel.