Grocery shopping statistics in 2026: what the numbers say about spending, store choice, and shopper behavior
Grocery shopping statistics tell a bigger story than checkout totals alone. The latest figures in the dataset show how food spending fits into the household budget, how store formats compete, and how shoppers are adapting through digital tools, transportation choices, and changing trip habits.
Table of contents
- At a glance
- Household grocery spending
- Store format and retail market data
- Shopper behavior and digital engagement
- Access, transportation, and food shopping patterns
- Category and market concentration trends
- Why these grocery shopping statistics matter
At a glance
Big number: Average annual household expenditures reached $78,535 in 2024 while average income before taxes was $104,207, leaving spending at about 75% of income (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024).
Food share: Food accounted for 12.9% of total household spending in 2024, ranking third behind housing at 33.4% and transportation at 17.0% (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024; BLS Economics Daily, Feb. 12, 2026).
Where the grocery dollar goes: In 2024, households spent $6,224 on food at home versus $3,945 on food away from home (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024; BLS Economics Daily, Feb. 12, 2026).
Market scale: Supermarkets in the United States numbered 45,575 in 2024, and supermarket total sales reached $1 trillion (FMI Food Industry Facts).
Digital shift: In 2024, occasional online grocery shopping rose from 49% to 67%, and 50% of shoppers used digital coupons (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024).
Household grocery spending
The clearest way to read grocery shopping statistics is to start with the household budget. Food is not the biggest category, but it is large enough to shape how families shop week to week and how retailers position their prices, assortments, and promotions.
In 2024, the average consumer unit spent $78,535 in total and had $104,207 in income before taxes (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024). That means household outlays consumed a large share of income even before anyone gets to the details of food, housing, transportation, and insurance.
Food spending alone averaged $10,169 per consumer unit in 2024 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024). Put differently, food made up 12.9% of total household spending, which is a meaningful slice of the budget even though it sits well below housing and transportation (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024; BLS Economics Daily, Feb. 12, 2026).
Food at home versus food away from home
The split between grocery shopping and eating out matters because it shows where household food dollars actually go.
- Food at home: $6,224 in 2024 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024)
- Food away from home: $3,945 in 2024 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024)
That gap matters for grocery retailers because it confirms that at-home food spending still exceeds away-from-home spending by a wide margin. The dataset also shows that in 2023, food away from home accounted for 43.2% of total food dollars (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023). That is a substantial share, but it still leaves the larger portion tied to food purchased for home use.
Here is a compact comparison of the key budget figures:
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total annual expenditures | $77,280 | $78,535 | BLS Consumer Expenditures |
| Food spending | $9,985 | $10,169 | BLS Consumer Expenditures |
| Food at home | $6,053 | $6,224 | BLS Consumer Expenditures |
| Food away from home | $3,933 | $3,945 | BLS Consumer Expenditures |
| Food share of total spending | 12.9% | 12.9% | BLS Consumer Expenditures |
The table shows only modest movement from 2023 to 2024 in the dollar amounts, but the consistency itself is important. Grocery shopping remains a durable part of household budgets rather than a short-lived spending spike.
What changed from 2023 to 2024
The year-over-year comparisons in the dataset show a small but clear upward drift in food spending.
- Total consumer unit expenditures increased 1.8% in 2024 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024)
- Food at home spending increased 2.8% in 2024 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024)
- Spending on meats, poultry, fish, and eggs averaged $1,414 in 2024, up from $1,164 in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024; BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
There is also a useful contrast in the 2023 data:
- Food at home spending rose 6.1% in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Food away from home spending rose 8.1% in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Food-at-home prices rose 5.0% in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Food-away-from-home prices rose 7.1% in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
That combination suggests that pricing pressure was still visible in both parts of the food budget, with away-from-home costs rising faster than at-home costs.
Fast fact: In 2024, food spending averaged $847 per month and food at home averaged $6,224 per year, according to BLS Economics Daily, Feb. 12, 2026.
Food category detail inside the grocery basket
The dataset gives a more granular look at what households buy for home consumption. That makes the grocery shopping statistics more actionable because not all grocery categories behave the same way.
In 2024, spending on meats, poultry, fish, and eggs averaged $1,414 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024). In 2023, the same category averaged $1,164 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023). That is one of the clearest category-level increases in the data.
Other 2023 food-at-home categories show a spread that helps explain how baskets are built:
- Cereals and bakery products: $830 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Dairy products: $602 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Fruits and vegetables: $988 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Other food at home: $2,469 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
Two 2023 category moves stand out:
- Spending on meat, poultry, fish, and eggs fell 4.3% in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
- Spending on fruits and vegetables fell 10.1% in 2023 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2023)
Those declines show that a household grocery budget is not uniform. Some categories can fall even when overall food spending remains high.
Store format and retail market data
Grocery shopping statistics also reveal how large and concentrated the retail side of the market is. The store base is broad, but the economics of grocery retail are tight.
In 2024, the United States had 45,575 supermarkets (FMI Food Industry Facts). Those stores supported 6.3 million employees across grocery stores and food manufacturers, and supermarket total sales reached $1 trillion (FMI Food Industry Facts).
Core supermarket benchmarks
A few operational figures help explain why grocery retail is such a scale business:
- Average supermarket size: 42,453 square feet (FMI Food Industry Facts)
- Average items carried: 31,795 (FMI Food Industry Facts)
- Average weekly sales per supermarket: $711,806 (FMI Food Industry Facts)
- Weekly sales per square foot: $18.55 (FMI Food Industry Facts)
- Average in-store transaction value: $45.70 (FMI Food Industry Facts)
- Average online transaction value: $108 (FMI Food Industry Facts)
- Average net profit for food retailers: 1.7% (FMI Food Industry Facts)
That last figure is especially important. A 1.7% average net profit margin leaves very little room for error in pricing, shrink, labor, and inventory management.
Grocery retail concentration and market share
The market is also more concentrated than many shoppers may realize. In 2014, the top 20 grocery retailers accounted for 61.6% of total U.S. grocery store sales, up from 40.6% in 1995 (ERS Strong Competition in Food Retailing Despite Consolidation).
Other market-share figures from the dataset add more texture:
- Discount dollar stores and drug stores accounted for 4.9% of the at-home food market in 2014 (ERS chart on supermarket share)
- Specialized food stores accounted for 3.3% of total food sales (ERS Retailing & Wholesaling - Retail Trends)
- Grocery store sales increased 8.2% from $793.4 billion in 2021 to $858.3 billion in 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau Annual Retail Trade Survey)
These numbers show a grocery landscape that is both huge and competitive. Large chains dominate much of the sales base, yet alternative formats still capture measurable share.
Shopper behavior and digital engagement
Shopping behavior is changing, but not in a single direction. The dataset shows a market where in-store shopping remains central while digital behaviors keep growing around it.
In 2024, grocery shopper sentiment measured 70 out of 100 (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024). That is not a euphoric score, but it does suggest a fairly stable shopper mood rather than widespread distress.
Where shoppers buy
The most common store choice in the 2024 shopper data was the supermarket:
- 40% chose supermarkets as their main store (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024)
- 32% chose mass stores (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024)
The 2026 data on shopping mode shows that in-store shopping still dominates the primary-store relationship:
- 54% always shop in-store at their primary store (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- 20% mostly shop in-store (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- 15% split in-store and online about equally (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
That is a strong signal that grocery shopping is still a physical trip for most households, even as digital support tools become more important.
Digital coupons, mobile tools, and online shopping
The clearest behavioral shift in the dataset is digital engagement.
- Occasional online grocery shopping rose from 49% to 67% (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024)
- 50% of shoppers used digital coupons, compared with 37% using physical coupons (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024)
- 37% used mobile phones to compare prices across stores (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024)
The 2026 shopper data goes further:
- 77% were digitally engaged before shopping (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- 71% were digitally engaged while shopping (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- 54% used retailer apps while shopping in person (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- 39% used web search (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- 37% used retailer or manufacturer websites on their phones (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
These figures show that the grocery trip is no longer purely offline. The store visit now often includes price checks, coupons, list management, and product comparison on a phone.
Trip prep and store expectations
The dataset also captures practical shopping preferences that affect store layout and merchandising.
- 32% of shoppers spent under 30 minutes on dinner prep in 2024, up from 18% in February 2020 (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2024)
- In 2026, 73% wanted clean, neat stores (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
- In 2026, 69% wanted to examine produce up close (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026)
That combination matters because it suggests that shoppers value both speed and confidence. They want efficient trips, but they also want the ability to inspect what they buy.
Access, transportation, and food shopping patterns
Grocery shopping statistics are not only about what people spend. They also show how people get to stores and what access barriers may shape their behavior.
During the survey week, 87% of households acquired food at least once from a large grocery store or supermarket (USDA FoodAPS). At the same time, 85% acquired food from a restaurant or other eating place (USDA FoodAPS). That overlap underlines how mixed the modern food-shopping week can be.
Transportation patterns
The mode of travel used for grocery shopping varies sharply by household type.
- 68% of SNAP participants used their own cars for food shopping (USDA FoodAPS)
- 95% of households with incomes above 185% of the Federal poverty line used their own cars for food shopping (USDA FoodAPS)
- 19% of SNAP participants used someone else’s car to do primary shopping (USDA FoodAPS)
- 13% of SNAP participants walked, biked, or used a shuttle or public transportation for grocery shopping (USDA FoodAPS)
- 87% of WIC participating households used their own vehicle for grocery shopping (USDA / ERS)
Here is a quick comparison of transportation-related shopping access:
| Household group | Own car use | Other transport detail | Source label |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNAP participants | 68% | 19% used someone else’s car; 13% walked, biked, or used transit | USDA FoodAPS |
| Above 185% of poverty | 95% | Own car use was much higher than SNAP participants | USDA FoodAPS |
| WIC participating households | 87% | Used their own vehicle for grocery shopping | USDA / ERS |
The difference between 68% and 95% is not a small gap. It is a reminder that grocery shopping behavior is shaped by household resources as much as by preference.
Trip frequency and access burden
The dataset also shows different shopping rhythms:
- 28% of SNAP participants made major food shopping trips once a month or less, compared with 8% of those above 185% of poverty (USDA FoodAPS / ERS)
- 34% of SNAP households used someone else’s car, ride-sharing, walking, biking, or public transit for grocery shopping, compared with 5% of non-SNAP households (USDA / ERS)
- Access-burdened and sufficient-access low-income households each spent about 58% of weekly food expenditures at large grocery stores (ERS The Influence of Food Store Access on Grocery Shopping and Food Spending)
- Access-burdened households spent an average of $27.54 per person per week at large grocery stores (ERS The Influence of Food Store Access on Grocery Shopping and Food Spending)
- Access-burdened and sufficient-access households spent 3% to 5% of weekly food expenditures at small grocery, ethnic, and specialty food stores (ERS The Influence of Food Store Access on Grocery Shopping and Food Spending)
These statistics show that access is not just a map issue. It affects trip frequency, transportation mode, and where weekly food dollars are spent.
Category and market concentration trends
Some of the most useful grocery shopping statistics come from looking at long-run shifts in retail structure and category share.
In 2014, the top 20 grocery retailers controlled 61.6% of U.S. grocery store sales, up sharply from 40.6% in 1995 (ERS Strong Competition in Food Retailing Despite Consolidation). That trend indicates a more concentrated market over time even though competition remains active.
The dataset also includes a useful historical benchmark on food-at-home share:
- Food at home’s share of total U.S. food spending hit 66% in April 2020 (ERS chart gallery)
That kind of share spike is useful context because it shows how food spending can move when household routines change.
There is also a demographic pattern in how the food dollar is split:
- In 2013, the share of the food dollar spent at home rose with age from 55.4% for under-25 households to 68.2% for households age 75 and older (BLS Beyond the Numbers)
- In 2013, food at home spending ranged from $2,602 for under-25 households to $4,701 for ages 45-54 (BLS Beyond the Numbers)
- In 2013, food away from home spending ranged from $1,319 for households age 75 and older to $3,280 for households age 35-44 (BLS Beyond the Numbers)
Those age patterns help explain why grocery shopping is not a single behavior. It varies by household life stage, convenience needs, and dining habits.
Why these grocery shopping statistics matter
The dataset points to a grocery market with three realities happening at once.
First, food is still a major household expense. In 2024 it took 12.9% of spending, and food at home alone averaged $6,224 (BLS Consumer Expenditures 2024).
Second, grocery retail is enormous but low margin. Supermarket sales reached $1 trillion, yet average net profit for food retailers was only 1.7% (FMI Food Industry Facts).
Third, the shopper journey is becoming more digitally supported without becoming fully digital. In 2026, 77% were digitally engaged before shopping and 71% while shopping, but 54% still always shopped in-store at their primary store (FMI U.S. Grocery Shopper Trends 2026).
The biggest takeaway from these grocery shopping statistics is that the grocery trip is now a hybrid event. Households still rely on stores for most food spending, but they increasingly use phones, coupons, search, and apps to control the cost and convenience of each trip. That makes grocery shopping one of the clearest places to watch the intersection of household budgets, retail economics, and everyday consumer behavior.