Restaurant spending is a major part of the U.S. food budget. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported average consumer-unit spending of $3,933 on food away from home in 2023, a category that includes restaurants, takeout, and other meals not prepared at home. USDA Economic Research Service data put total U.S. food-away-from-home spending at $1.52 trillion in 2024.
Contents
- Recent restaurant spending trends
- Household spending and inflation
- Spending by income
- Spending by age
- Regional restaurant spending
- Occupation and employment differences
- Restaurant spending in the wider food budget
Recent restaurant spending trends
The BLS measure of food away from home shows how quickly restaurant and prepared-meal spending changed around the pandemic period. Average consumer-unit spending was $3,526 in 2019. It fell to $2,375 in 2020, then recovered to $3,030 in 2021, $3,639 in 2022, and $3,933 in 2023. These are annual averages for U.S. consumer units, not a restaurant-industry sales total.
The year-over-year pattern was uneven:
- Food-away-from-home spending fell 32.6% in 2020.
- It rose 27.6% in 2021.
- It rose another 20.1% in 2022.
- It increased 8.1% in 2023.
The BLS reported that the share of consumer units reporting food-away-from-home purchases increased by about 2.5 percentage points in 2023. The 2023 dollar increase was $294 compared with 2022. Together, the participation and dollar figures show both broader purchasing and higher average spending, although the BLS figures do not identify how much of the dollar change came from prices versus quantities.
For a bistro, these figures describe the broad market context: restaurant meals, takeout, and other prepared food compete for the same household food budget. They do not represent the sales or customer mix of any individual establishment.
Household spending and inflation
The BLS Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for food away from home rose from 284.410 in 2019 to 293.944 in 2020, 307.296 in 2021, 330.822 in 2022, and 354.256 in 2023. The CPI-U for this category rose 7.1% in 2023.
The spending series and the price index should be read together. Average annual spending rose from $3,639 in 2022 to $3,933 in 2023, while the food-away-from-home CPI-U also increased. That means a larger nominal household bill does not by itself prove that households bought more restaurant food. The BLS separately reported the approximately 2.5-percentage-point increase in the share reporting purchases, which provides additional context but does not quantify each household’s number of visits.
| Year | Average food-away-from-home spending | Year-over-year change | CPI-U |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $3,526 | — | 284.410 |
| 2020 | $2,375 | -32.6% | 293.944 |
| 2021 | $3,030 | 27.6% | 307.296 |
| 2022 | $3,639 | 20.1% | 330.822 |
| 2023 | $3,933 | 8.1% | 354.256 |
Source: BLS Consumer Expenditures in 2023. The CPI-U values are index readings, not dollar prices for a particular meal.
Spending by income
Income is strongly associated with annual food-away-from-home spending in the BLS 2023 income-quintiles table. The lowest 20% spent $1,571, while the second 20% spent $2,421 and the middle 20% spent $3,234. The fourth 20% spent $4,633, and the highest 20% spent $7,797.
The gap is also visible in the income-deciles table. The lowest 10% spent $1,613, followed by $1,530 for the second 10%, $2,243 for the third, $2,599 for the fourth, and $2,924 for the fifth. Spending then reached $3,543 for the sixth 10%, $3,987 for the seventh, $5,277 for the eighth, $6,609 for the ninth, and $8,982 for the highest 10%.
The second decile’s $1,530 is lower than the first decile’s $1,613, so the deciles do not form a perfectly increasing sequence. That does not overturn the broader pattern: the highest income groups recorded substantially more annual spending away from home than the lowest groups. These figures are averages within each group and should not be treated as a recommended household budget.
The USDA Economic Research Service also reported 2024 total-food figures by income. The lowest-income quintile spent $5,498 on total food, equal to 33.0% of before-tax income. The middle-income quintile spent $9,097, or 12.2% of before-tax income. The highest-income quintile spent $16,989, or 6.4% of before-tax income. Those figures cover food both at home and away from home, so they should not be substituted for the BLS restaurant-spending measures.
Spending by age
Age comparisons in the BLS 2023 tables vary depending on the cutoff used. Households with a reference person under 30 spent $3,686 on food away from home, compared with $3,965 for households with a reference person age 30 and older.
Using a 50-year cutoff, households under 50 spent $4,516, while those age 50 and older spent $3,433. With a 55-year cutoff, the under-55 group spent $4,598 and the age-55-and-older group spent $3,136. With a 65-year cutoff, households under 65 spent $4,386, while those age 65 and older spent $2,741.
These overlapping groupings are not interchangeable. A household can be included in several “under” categories, and the reference person’s age is not necessarily the age of every household member. The figures nevertheless show lower reported food-away-from-home spending in the older comparison groups at the 50-, 55-, and 65-year thresholds.
Regional restaurant spending
The BLS regional averages for 2023 show meaningful geographic differences. Households in the Northeast spent $4,273 on food away from home. The Midwest average was $3,612, and the South average was $3,465. The West recorded the highest regional average at $4,782.
| U.S. region | Average 2023 food-away-from-home spending |
|---|---|
| Northeast | $4,273 |
| Midwest | $3,612 |
| South | $3,465 |
| West | $4,782 |
Source: BLS Consumer Expenditures in 2023.
The regional figures are descriptive averages, not a ranking of restaurant demand alone. Differences in household income, prices, population mix, travel, and access to restaurants can all affect the reported amount. The data supplied here do not isolate those factors or provide a restaurant spending figure for individual states or cities.
Occupation and employment differences
Employment status and occupation also correspond with different average spending levels in the BLS 2023 tables. Self-employed workers spent $5,107 on food away from home, compared with $4,505 for total wage and salary earners.
Among occupational groups, managers and professionals had the highest listed average at $5,621. Technical, sales, and clerical workers spent $4,108. Service workers spent $3,520, while construction workers and mechanics spent $3,151. Operators, fabricators, and laborers spent $2,763.
Retired households recorded $2,651, and all other or not reporting households recorded $2,735. These categories are not a complete explanation of restaurant behavior. Occupation can overlap with age, income, household size, schedule, and location, and the provided figures do not measure visits, order size, cuisine preferences, or whether spending occurred at full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, or through takeout.
Restaurant spending in the wider food budget
USDA Economic Research Service data show the scale of food-away-from-home spending in 2024. U.S. food-away-from-home spending reached $1.52 trillion and accounted for 58.9% of total food expenditures. It represented 5.5% of disposable personal income. Total food spending reached $2.58 trillion, while food-at-home spending reached $1.06 trillion and represented 41.1% of total food expenditures.
The shares add important perspective to the dollar total. Food away from home was the larger of the two reported components of total food expenditures in 2024, but the 5.5% disposable-personal-income measure uses a different denominator. A percentage of total food expenditures should not be compared directly with a percentage of disposable income as if they measured the same thing.
The 2024 household average reported by the BLS was $3,945 for food away from home. This is close in concept to the 2023 consumer-unit average of $3,933, but the years and statistical releases differ. The $1.52 trillion USDA total is a national aggregate, whereas the BLS $3,945 figure is an average household-level measure. They answer different questions and should not be combined into a single per-household calculation.
For readers interested in bistro cooking, the practical takeaway from these statistics is that meals prepared outside the home occupy a substantial and varied place in U.S. food spending. The strongest differences in the reported data appear across income groups, regions, ages, and occupations, while inflation and changing purchase participation shape how annual dollar totals should be interpreted.