Gen Z spends more evenly on food at-home versus away-from-home than older generations
Between 2016 and 2017, total expenditures on food increased nearly $526 per person for the 130,001 consumers tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to analysis from the Food Institute in its latest Demographics of Consumer Food Spending report.
Between 2016 and 2017, total expenditures on food increased nearly $526 per person for the 130,001 consumers tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, according to analysis from the Food Institute in its latest Demographics of Consumer Food Spending report. Spending for food at-home and food away-from-home jumped $314 and $211, respectively, in 2017. Decreases were reported across all age brackets for both at-home and away-from-home spending, with the 35–44 age bracket decreasing its at-home food spend by $402 per person.
Generation Z, or those under 25, spent a relatively equal amount on food at-home versus away-from-home, while that gap widened in older generations. Millennials and Generation X spent about 54%–55% of their food budgets on food at home, compared to about 59% for Baby Boomers.
Married couples with an oldest child aged 6–17 spent the most on food away-from-home in 2017, at 44.8% of annual food expenditures, followed by couples only at 44.5%.
Men spent more on food than women in all age brackets, except for one: women aged 55–64. This group spent $4,253 on food in 2017, while the corresponding male bracket spent $4,090. Men aged 35–44 spent the most for their gender, while the highest-spending female age bracket was 25–34.