How Much Does the Average American Spend on Food per Month?
Recent data released by the United States Department of Labor shows that food makes up the country’s third-largest consumer spending category, after housing and transportation.
But how much does the average American spend on food per month? Below, we take a look at the average amount of money spent on food in recent years.
How much do Americans spend on food: 2022
The report on US consumers’ annual expenditure shows that food spending hit $9,343 per household in 2022. This figure excludes expenses on alcoholic beverages.
Breaking this down, the average monthly spend on food corresponds to $778.58. This represents a 12.7% rise from the previous year, which is an increase larger than that of households’ average annual expenditure, which was 9%. It is also the category with the second-largest year-over-year rise, after cash contributions, whose annual expenditure grew by 14.1%.
Of the $9,343 American households spent on food in 2022, more than half was for home consumption. $5,703 (61%) was spent on food at home, which averages to $475.25 per month. The average monthly spend on food at home in 2022 was also an 8.4% increase from the previous year.
This begs the question: How much do Americans spend on food away from home? The same report shows that $3,639 was spent on eating out in 2022, representing an average of $303.25 per month. Not only was this a 20.1% annual increase, it was also the first time consumers’ expenditure on food away from home surpassed pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels.
How much does the average American spend on food per year: 2020–2021
The average amount of money spent on food has been rising year after year. In 2020, overall food spending per household was recorded at $7,310—or $609.17 every month. This rose by 13.4% in 2021, to $8,289, an average of $690.75 per month.
Food expenses away from home rose from $2,375 ($197.92 per month) in 2020 to $3,030 ($252.50 per month) in 2021. Meanwhile, expenditure on food consumed at home increased at a slower pace and by a smaller margin—from $4,935 ($411.25 per month) in 2020 to $5,259 ($438.25 per month) in 2021.