© Tracie McMillan • The American Way of Eating (Scribner 2012)
WHAT I SPENT ON FOOD
On average, I spent about 19 percent of my income on food, with 10 percent spent on
groceries and 9 percent spent on meals away from home. This varied dramatically
depending on my earnings, though: As a farmworker I spent more than a quarter of my
earnings on food, while as a restaurant worker I was spending half as much.
I earned the least as a farmworker but spent the most on food. New to economizing on
my meals and incredibly hungry besides, I spent more than $7 a day feeding myself,
above the national average per person. By the time I'd moved into work at Applebee's,
food ran me less than $5 a day.
AVERAGE
Farming
Selling
Cooking
Food as
% Income
18.74%
25.57%
17.23%
13.43%
% Food,
At Home
10.22%
11.76%
11.25%
7.65%
% Food,
Out
8.52%
13.81%
5.98%
5.79%
DAILY
SPENDING
Food budget,
Single Adult
$4.74
$7.44
$5.44
$4.74
WEEKLY
INCOME
AND
SPENDING
Income
$223.85
$203.62
$220.91
$247.03
Food
Spending
$41.10
$52.06
$38.06
$33.19
Income $11,640.25
$10,588.07
$11,487.26
$12,845.41
Food
$2,137.35
Spending
$2,706.97
$1,979.32
$1,725.76
FOOD
SPENDING
AS SHARE
OF INCOME
ANNUAL
INCOME
AND
SPENDING
NOTES
Daily food budget based on average spending on food for duration of project; Weekly income based on weeks
actually worked; weekly food spending based on actual expenditures; Annual income and food spendings are
projections, based on weekly figures projected for 52 weeks Food as share of income, and spending at home and
out, based on weekly figures.
© Tracie McMillan • The American Way of Eating (Scribner 2012)
WHAT AMERICANS SPEND ON FOOD
Although the average American household spends about 11 percent of their income on
food, the numbers break down very differently depending on income.
Take the 10 percent of American households earning between $10,000 and $15,000 a
year. They spend spend 36 percent of their income on food. Meanwhile, the richest
families—the top 10 percent, who earn $70,000 a year or more—spend just 9 percent of
their income on food.
AVERAGE $10k-$14,999
FOOD
SPENDING
AS SHARE
OF INCOME
DAILY
SPENDING
WEEKLY
INCOME
AND
SPENDING
ANNUAL
INCOME
AND
SPENDING
Food as
% Income
$40,000$49,000
$70,000+
10.62%
35.84%
13.44%
8.90%
% Food,
At Home
6.21%
29.55%
8.96%
4.88%
% At Home,
Fruits and
Vegetables
16.65%
14.56%
16.35%
16.89%
% Food,
Out
4.41%
6.29%
4.48%
4.02%
$13.88
$16.84
$24.50
$3.47
$4.21
$6.13
$271.81
$879.67
$2,453.00
$97.42
$118.23
$218.42
Income $84,247.00
$14,134.00
$45,743.00
$127,556.00
Food
$8,943.00
Spending
$5,066.00
$6,148.00
$11,358.00
Food budget,
Household of
$24.50
4
Food budget,
$6.13
per person
Income $1,620.13
Food
Spending
$171.98
NOTES
All data on income and food spending drawn from annual figures reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for
2009.