Even though food prices have risen, food in the U.S. is still affordable. According to the United State Department of Agriculture, in 2021, U.S. consumers spent an average of 10.3 percent of their disposable personal income on food — divided between food at home (5.2 percent) and food away from home (5.1 percent). The share of disposable personal income spent on total food has trended downward since 1961 — driven by a decline in share of income spent on food at home.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in the sharpest annual decline in the share of disposable income spent on total food since 1967. In part, this decline was the result of the largest annual increase in disposable personal income since 2000 and the sharpest decrease in food-away-from-home spending.
In 2021, the share of disposable personal income spent on total food returned to 2019 levels at 10.3 percent. Note that the shares in this chart do not include spending by businesses and government entities.
