Food accounted for 12.9 percent of U.S. households’ expenditures in 2024
- by Wilson Sinclair and Hayden Stewart
- 4/30/2026
U.S. households allocated 12.9 percent of their budgets to food in 2024, on average, down from 13.3 percent in 2004. Food has continued to rank third behind housing and transportation as a share of U.S. households’ total expenditures on all goods and services. Households allocated a larger share of their budgets to housing and healthcare in 2024 than they did in 2004. Total spending by U.S. households averaged $43,400 in 2004 and $78,500 in 2024.