How Much Money is the US Spending on Food?
Food is one of the biggest expenditures of today. It varies wildly from location to location, but it takes about 11% of all consumer spending in the US.
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Food is one of the biggest expenditures of today. It varies wildly from location to location, but it takes about 11% of all consumer spending in the US. On average, Americans spend about about $50k, so that's about $7k.
There are a few highlights I will show, but I created a full tool below if you want to explore yourself the cost of food for America:
How Much Does the US Spend on ?
Food is one of the biggest expenditures of today. It varies from location to location, but it takes about 11% of all consumer spending in the US.
Total Money Spent on Home Cooking
US Dollars ($) Source: USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) Food Expenditure Series
Food Spending Increased by 25% since 2019
This is higher than the all-items CPI, which grew just over 19% over the same period. Maybe I'm stupid, but 25% also seems crazy high.
They were only beat out by the 27.1% increase in transportation costs, but they rose faster than housing, medical care, and all other major categories.
On the bright side, in the grand scheme of things, food is still amazingly cheap, and since 1962, the share of disposal income spent on food has went down from 18% to the aforementioned 6%.
Noticeable Drop in Takeout Spending in 2020
No real need to comment on the effects of this; COVID hit American takeout restaurants pretty hard. You can see the drastic decrease, especially when comparing Home Cooking spending vs Takeout Spending.
No need to look into why; COVID was a bitch for restaurants everywhere.
Meal Delivery Kits Are On the Rise
The Meal Kit Delivery market (in orange) in United States has been growing rapidly in recent years, mostly because America loves convenience. When you take our grocery stores and supercenters, they take up the largest market share.
I personally have a complicated opinion of meal kits, as their environmental effects are still up for debate. Just looking at meal delivery kits...woah.
Evil (Takeout) is Beating Out Good (Home)
Food-away-from-home spending accounted for 56% of total food expenditures in 2022 in the US, and it seems like there's an increase happening.
Alongside meal delivery kits, there is a big increase in takeout; making up 45% of the food spending in 1998, but now making up 64%...we're doomed.
