Gallup: Americans Spend $151 a Week on Food; the High-Income Earners, $180

Gallup ^ | 08/06/2012 | Elizabeth Mendes

[SeekAndFind]

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans report spending $151 on food per week on average. One in 10 Americans say they spend $300 or more per week and, at the other extreme, 8% spend less than $50.

Gallup has asked a version of this question as far back as 1943, but has not asked it since 1987. In 1943, an average of $15 per week was spent on food. The final 1987 estimate was $106.

But the increases in weekly food spending over time largely reflect the impact of inflation. On a relative basis, after adjusting prior years' data for inflation to 2012 dollars, Americans are spending less on food now than in the past. The average $151 Americans report spending each week on food today is down from inflation-adjusted $157 to $214 range Gallup found throughout the mid- to late 1980s, the last time it regularly asked the question.

Adjusting the historical data to 2012 dollars also reveals that Americans' weekly spending on food began to decline in the 1970s, after rising to a high of $234 in 1966 and 1967. That generally downward trend was interrupted by a spike in 1987.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey -- available from 1984 to 2010 -- confirm the generally downward trend Gallup finds in weekly reported average spending on food since the late 1980s. The BLS figures, adjusted for inflation, show Americans' spending on food declined to $124 a week in 2010, from a high of $148 in 1989.

Young adults' average weekly food spending is $173, more than what older Americans say they spend. Those with incomes of $75,000 or more per year are averaging $180 per week, compared with $144 for those with incomes of $30,000 to $74,999, and $127 for the lowest income group.

[Blueflag]

Woot!

[reegs]

I am the chef/grocery shopper for our family of 6. I used to be able to feed our family on $100 a week, but as of this year, we had to bump it up to $120. You can eat for pretty cheap if you shop at the right places (Aldi, etc.) and cook for yourself.

[Blueflag]

ditto. and we supplement with veggie items from the garden. You CAN eat cheaply if you are TRYING to.

We never buy ‘steak’ unless it’s on manager’s special half price.

We RARELY go out to dinner.

I would offer out behaviour is different from people whose budget is substantially supplemented with gummint funds. It gripes my 4$$ to see shopping carts packed with expensive meats, cheeses and bad-food snacks.

[1010RD]

Look at the inflation adjusted number. We’re better off over time as the market solves the food problem. Will the people thank capitalism?

No, they’ll call for more destructive socialism due to “income inequality”.