The average household spent $10,633 on food in 2025, and $4,142 of that went to meals away from home, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The figures come from the agency’s Consumer Expenditure Survey, released October 29, 2026.
The split between groceries and restaurant or takeout meals shows where the food dollar is going. Total food spending rose 4.6 percent from 2024, and eating out grew faster than eating in.
The 2025 Numbers
The BLS 2025 annual results put average household food spending at $10,633, up from $10,169 in 2024, an increase of 4.6 percent. Food made up 13.0 percent of average annual expenditures of $81,905, which were up 4.3 percent from $78,527.
The bureau splits food into two parts:
- Food at home averaged $6,491, up 4.3 percent from $6,224.
- Food away from home averaged $4,142, up 5.0 percent from $3,945.
The two parts add up to the $10,633 total. Meals away from home accounted for about 39 percent of the food budget, and groceries for about 61 percent, based on the BLS figures.
How Food Compares With Other Spending
Food ranks third among the large categories the BLS lists, behind housing and transportation. Housing averaged $27,790, up 5.8 percent and 33.9 percent of spending. Transportation came to $13,492, up 1.3 percent, or 16.5 percent of spending. Personal insurance and pensions averaged $10,175 and healthcare $6,470, up 4.4 percent.
Average income before taxes was $110,847, up 6.4 percent, according to the release. Consumer prices, measured by the CPI-U, rose 2.6 percent, though the BLS notes the figure uses 11 months of data for 2025 because the Census Bureau did not collect data in October and November 2025 during the federal funding lapse.
The survey measures what households report spending, not the price of a single item, so the dollar amounts reflect both prices and what households bought. For help with the budget side, 10 Clever Frugal Living Tips: Save Big on a Tiny Budget collects simple ways to trim spending, and Who Said Inflation Had to Ruin Everything? 12 Things That Are Actually Getting Cheaper! looks at items moving the other way.
Why Eating Out Is Growing Faster
Food away from home rose 5.0 percent, compared with 4.3 percent for groceries. The USDA’s Economic Research Service sees the same pattern over a longer period. On its food prices and spending page, the ERS says food away from home took 4.9 percent of disposable income in 2025, up from 4.3 percent in 1997, while food at home fell to 4.8 percent from 6.1 percent.
The ERS also reports that, adjusted for inflation, spending on food away from home grew from $818 billion in 1997 to $1.41 trillion in 2025. Food at home grew from $738 billion to $1.10 trillion. Total food spending went from $1.56 trillion to $2.51 trillion. Overall, food took 9.7 percent of disposable income in 2025, down from 10.4 percent in 1997. Households looking to rein in either side of that split can try the ideas in 15 Wallet-Friendly Life Hacks That’ll Actually Make a Difference.
Prices are part of the story. In its October Food Price Outlook, updated October 23, the ERS forecasts food-away-from-home prices up 3.5 percent in 2026, compared with 2.3 percent for food at home. For 2027, it forecasts 2.8 percent for restaurants and 1.0 percent for groceries. Those numbers are available in the ERS summary findings.
Cooking at home has its own history, and The Sunday Family Dinner Was Once an American Ritual, and These 6 Changes Made It Fade shows how much that tradition has shifted. Restaurants face their own pressure to raise menu prices, a tension covered in Raising Menu Prices by More Than 10% May Backfire for Independent Restaurants, James Beard Foundation Report Says.
What the Survey Measures
A related ERS product, the Food Expenditure Series, measures the value of food acquired in the United States by type of product, outlet and purchaser. It covers food at home and food away from home, with national annual estimates dating from 1997, and it includes nonmarket sources such as food produced at home and donated food.
The Consumer Expenditure Survey is run by the BLS, and the Census Bureau collects the data, according to Wikipedia’s entry on the survey. It has two parts. In the Interview Survey, each household is interviewed once per quarter for four consecutive quarters, and it captures large purchases and recurring expenses. In the Diary Survey, respondents keep records for two one-week periods, which captures small, frequent purchases such as food.
The BLS uses the survey to select new Consumer Price Index market baskets every two years and to set the relative importance of CPI components. The survey’s technical term for a household is a consumer unit, and in 2025 there were 137,994 thousand of them, up 1.6 percent from 135,760 thousand, according to the BLS release. It was first collected in 1888 and became continuous in 1980.
What It Means for a Household Budget
The averages blend very different households. The BLS release lists average income before taxes and average annual expenditures by income group: the lowest fifth had income of $18,125 and spending of $37,935, while the highest fifth had income of $286,188 and spending of $159,512. A given household’s food bill depends on its size, location and habits.
Still, the $6,491 for groceries and $4,142 for meals away from home offer a benchmark. A household can compare its own year of receipts against them and see whether more of its food dollars are going to restaurants and takeout than the average. Cooking more at home is one lever.
The takeaway from the 2025 data is that food is 13.0 percent of the average budget, that groceries still make up the larger share, and that restaurants and takeout are the part growing faster. With the ERS forecasting higher increases for restaurant menus than for groceries in 2026, that split is worth watching.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Frankie Fouganthin – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons
