Restaurant vs Home Cooking Statistics
Restaurant spending and home cooking do not move in opposite directions so much as they pull on the same household budget from different angles.
The statistics below show how food-at-home spending, food-away-from-home spending, time spent preparing meals, and diet quality all fit together. The result is a practical picture of how Americans split meals between the kitchen and restaurants, and how that split changed from 2018 through 2024.
Table of contents
- Fast facts
- How spending compares
- What changed year by year
- Time spent cooking at home
- What people actually buy away from home
- Diet and nutrition differences
- What the numbers suggest
Fast facts
- In 2023, total food expenditures averaged $9,985 per consumer unit (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
- In 2023, food at home expenditures averaged $6,053 per consumer unit, while food away from home expenditures averaged $3,933 per consumer unit (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
- In 2024, U.S. adults spent 0.67 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup, and 63.1 percent of the population did any food preparation and cleanup on an average day (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024).
- In 2024, women spent 0.86 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup, while men spent 0.46 hours per day (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024).
- In 2018, 44 percent of all food spending was on food away from home (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- In 2018, reported calorie intake rose to 2,093 calories per person per day, up from 1,807 calories in 1977-1978 (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings).
How spending compares
A useful way to compare restaurant meals with home cooking is through household food spending.
In the most recent year in the dataset, food at home made up the larger share of the average consumer unit’s food bill, at $6,053 in 2023, compared with $3,933 for food away from home (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023). That gap matters because it shows that home cooking still anchors the food budget even when restaurant spending is substantial.
Here is the five-year spending path side by side.
| Year | Total food expenditures | Food at home | Food away from home |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | $8,169 | $4,643 | $3,526 |
| 2020 | $7,310 | $4,935 | $2,375 |
| 2021 | $8,289 | $5,259 | $3,030 |
| 2022 | $9,343 | $5,703 | $3,639 |
| 2023 | $9,985 | $6,053 | $3,933 |
Source labels are important here because they keep the comparisons grounded: all five rows come from BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023.
The pattern is simple. Food at home rose every year from 2019 through 2023, moving from $4,643 to $6,053 per consumer unit (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023). Food away from home also rose after the 2020 drop, moving from $2,375 in 2020 to $3,933 in 2023 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
That means the restaurant-versus-home question is not really about one category replacing the other. It is about the balance between the two expanding categories as total food spending climbed from $8,169 in 2019 to $9,985 in 2023 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
What changed year by year
The sharpest contrast in the series appears in 2020.
Food away from home spending fell 32.6 percent in 2020 versus 2019, dropping from $3,526 to $2,375 per consumer unit (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023). That decline was much steeper than the movement in food at home, which increased from $4,643 to $4,935 over the same period (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
The rebound was steady after that:
- Food away from home spending rose 27.6 percent in 2021 versus 2020 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
- Food away from home spending rose 20.1 percent in 2022 versus 2021 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
- Food away from home spending rose 8.1 percent in 2023 versus 2022 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
Food at home also continued rising after 2020, from $4,935 in 2020 to $6,053 in 2023 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023). The slope is less dramatic than the restaurant rebound, but it shows that home cooking did not lose ground in absolute dollars.
A second comparison is the share of food spending that went to eating away from home.
- In 2018, 44 percent of all food spending was on food away from home (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- Food away from home accounted for 32.5 percent of food spending in 2020 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2022).
- Food away from home accounted for 36.6 percent of food spending in 2021 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2022).
- Food away from home accounted for 39.0 percent of food spending in 2022 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2022).
Those figures suggest a major swing in the spending mix. Even as restaurant spending recovered, the share did not clearly return to the 2018 level in the later share series provided here (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home; BLS Consumer expenditures in 2022).
Time spent cooking at home
Spending is only half the story. Time use data show how much effort people actually devote to home food preparation.
In 2024, U.S. adults spent 0.67 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup, and 63.1 percent of the population did any food preparation and cleanup on an average day (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024). In 2023, the same measure was 0.65 hours per day, with 61.2 percent of the population doing any food preparation and cleanup (BLS American Time Use Survey 2023).
That is a small year-over-year increase, but the more useful point is the baseline. Home cooking is not disappearing; it is a regular part of daily life for a majority of adults.
The gender split is even more revealing.
- In 2024, men spent 0.46 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024).
- In 2024, women spent 0.86 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024).
- In 2023, men spent 0.43 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup (BLS American Time Use Survey 2023).
- In 2023, women spent 0.85 hours per day on food preparation and cleanup (BLS American Time Use Survey 2023).
That is a consistent gap across both years, and it matters when interpreting restaurant demand. More home cooking time does not mean uniform participation. It means household labor remains unevenly distributed, even in a period where restaurant spending is still large.
A broader household activity measure reinforces the same point. In 2024, total household activities averaged 2.01 hours per day, with women averaging 2.34 hours and men averaging 1.67 hours (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024).
What people actually buy away from home
Restaurant spending is not just a total number. It is built from meal occasions.
In 2018, the average consumer unit spent $3,459 on food away from home, or about $67 per week (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home). That away-from-home budget was spread across several meal categories:
- Average weekly spending on dinner away from home was $28 (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- Average weekly spending on lunch away from home was $18 (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- Average weekly spending on breakfast and brunch away from home was $6 (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- Average weekly spending on snacks and nonalcoholic beverages away from home was $5 (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
The purchase rates show the same ordering.
- 52.8 percent of respondents purchased lunch away from home (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- 50.2 percent purchased dinner away from home (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- 30.2 percent purchased breakfast and brunch away from home (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
- 35.1 percent purchased snacks and nonalcoholic beverages away from home (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
That is a useful reminder that restaurant demand is not limited to dinner. Lunch is the most commonly purchased away-from-home meal in this dataset, and it also commands the second-highest weekly spending amount after dinner (BLS Meal Appeal: Patterns of Expenditures on Food away from Home).
The mix of meal occasions matters for anyone comparing restaurant versus home cooking. Dinner is the biggest single expense, but lunch is a major recurring purchase, and breakfast plus snacks add a steady layer of smaller transactions.
Diet and nutrition differences
The home-versus-restaurant comparison becomes more interesting when you look at diet quality.
From 1977-1978 to 2017-2018, reported calorie intake rose 15 percent, from 1,807 calories to 2,093 calories per person per day (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings). Over the same long span, the share of food energy from fast food rose from 5.9 percent to 16.3 percent, and the share from restaurant food more than doubled from 3.3 percent to 7.8 percent (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings).
That trend says restaurant food became a much more important part of the American diet over time, not just a larger spending category.
The nutrient comparison is just as important.
In 2017-2018, restaurant and fast-food foods were lower than food at home in fiber, calcium, iron, fruits, dairy, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and soy products (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings). They were higher than food at home in saturated fats, sodium, and refined grains (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings).
That creates a clear tradeoff. Home food tends to look better on a range of nutrient-density measures, while restaurant and fast-food meals contribute more of the elements that many people try to limit.
A compact comparison helps show the direction of the data.
| Category | Higher in restaurant/fast food | Higher in food at home |
|---|---|---|
| Saturated fats | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) | No |
| Sodium | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) | No |
| Refined grains | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) | No |
| Fiber | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
| Calcium | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
| Iron | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
| Fruits | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
| Dairy | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
| Whole grains | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
| Nuts, seeds, and soy products | No | Yes (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings) |
The USDA series also notes that in 2017-2018, U.S. consumers had 16 of 23 nutrient and food-group densities more than 20 percent below or above Federal recommendations (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings). That is not a restaurant-only issue, but it does frame why the home-versus-away-from-home split matters for diet quality discussions.
What the numbers suggest
The data point to three practical takeaways.
First, home cooking remains the larger spending category in the most recent year provided, even though restaurant spending is still large and rising again after 2020 (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023).
Second, time use data show that food preparation at home is still a normal daily activity for most adults, but the burden is unevenly shared across men and women (BLS American Time Use Survey 2024; BLS American Time Use Survey 2023).
Third, the nutrition data suggest that the restaurant-versus-home choice is not only about convenience or cost. It is also about nutrient profile, with restaurant and fast-food items showing higher saturated fat, sodium, and refined grains, while home food shows more favorable levels for several core food groups and nutrients (USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings).
If you are comparing restaurant meals with home cooking in practical terms, the statistics support a straightforward frame: restaurants capture a large and persistent share of spending, but home cooking still dominates the budget, remains part of daily time use, and is associated with a more favorable nutrient profile in the cited USDA comparison (BLS Consumer expenditures in 2023; BLS American Time Use Survey 2024; USDA ERS Food Consumption, Nutrient Intakes, and Diet Quality - Summary Findings).