How Much Should You Spend On Groceries? (2024)

Of course, there’s a difference between food spending guidelines and what people actually end up spending. To figure out the average cost of groceries that American consumers are shelling out for food each year, look to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual Consumer Expenditures survey, which reports how much people spend on various consumer goods.

Food Spending Through The Years

Food spending, in line with all other spendings, has generally risen steadily through the years. According to the Consumer Price Index, which measures price changes for consumer goods, food price increases were closely in line with overall inflation over the past few years.

Based on the latest Consumer Expenditures survey, the average household spent $7,317 on food – including food eaten at home or dining out. How does that compare to what people paid 10, 20 or even 30 years ago? In 2007, the average household spent $6,133 on food. In 1997, this figure was $4,801. And in 1987, it was $3,664.

Of course, incomes have also risen to keep up with inflation throughout the years. In 1987, when households were spending an average of $3,664 on food, their average pretax income was $27,326 compared to 2020’s average household income of $84,352.

Inflation’s impact on food prices has been more noticeable in 2022, however. The Bureau of Labor Statistics observed that food prices increased by 10.8% between April 2021 and April 2022, which marks the largest food price percentage increase in a given year since 1981.

By Income

In 2020, the average household spent $7,317 of its $84,352 pretax income on food. A total of $4,942 was spent eating at home, while $2,375 was spent eating out.

However, average expenditures don’t really tell you a whole lot. This Consumer Expenditures survey includes combined household incomes from less than $15,000 to more than $200,000. Diving further into the data, you can see how different income levels allocate spending differently.

For example, the lowest income bracket spent, on average, $4,226 on food last year, while the higher-income bracket spent an average of $14,066. Food costs made up about 15% of the less-than-$15,000 bracket’s overall average expenditures, while those same costs made up only about 10% of the $200,000-plus bracket’s spending. This highlights why creating budgets for your groceries should be based on your individual finances; someone who makes $15,000 per year and someone who makes $200,000 per year both require the same amount of food but are working with very different budgets.

By Size Of Household

Obviously, the more mouths there are to feed, the more money you’ll spend on food. Right? Yes and no.

Single-person households, naturally, spent the least on food: $4,279 in 2020. Two-person households spent $7,179.

Three-person households spent $8,203. Four-person households spent $10,963. Finally, households with five or more spent $11,027.

How Much Does A Family Of 2 Spend On Groceries?

As the family grows, so does the average grocery spend. Two-person households spent $4,791 in 2020 on groceries, or food at home.

How Much Does A Family Of 3 Spend On Groceries?

When you add another person to the household, grocery spending goes up to $5,520. The overall number is increasing, but not as significantly.

How Much Does A Family Of 4 Spend On Groceries?

Why did overall spending peak at four people? Average income actually appears to drop once you move past four-person households, with the five- or more-person household averaging $7,848 compared to the four-person household’s $7,407.

By Location

When you compare prices on food spending by region, the West spends the most followed by the Northeast, the Midwest and then the South.

Do your annual food expenditures match up with your region’s average? The average Northeasterner spent $8,294 on food in 2020, folks in the Midwest spent $6,921, Southerners spent $6,477 and those in the West spent $8,398.

Unsurprisingly, city dwellers seem to be buying a lot more food than everyone else. When looking at consumer units within urban areas versus those outside urban areas, the urbanites spent an average of $7,489 compared to $6,588 for outsiders.

In examining money spent on food away from home in particular, urban households spent $2,460 versus the nonurban group’s $2,016.

By Age

Households where the reference person (the person on the survey named the owner or renter of the home) is under 25 years old spent the least on food in 2020, about $4,526. This was likely due to the fact that they were the lowest earners of all the age groups. They were followed by those in the 65 years and older bracket, who spent $5,698 in 2020.

The two highest-spending groups in 2020 were 35 – 44 years old and 45 – 54 years old, spending $9,343 and $8,783 respectively. These groups also spend more dollars on food away from home than any other group.