Average Monthly Grocery Cost: $519 per US Household in 2024
Written and checked with AI using the references below. This is not human expert review.
Quick answer
US households spent an average of $6,224 on groceries (food at home) in 2024, which works out to about $519 per month, per BLS data. Your actual number will be higher or lower depending on household size, income, and where you live. Lower-income households spend far less in dollars but a much larger share of their income on food.
The 2024 Baseline: $519 per Month for a Typical Household
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracks what households spend each year. Its Consumer Expenditure Survey for 2024 puts average annual spending on food at home (groceries, not restaurants) at $6,224 per consumer unit. Divide by 12 and you get about $519 per month. A consumer unit is roughly a household.
That number rose from $6,053 in 2023 and $5,703 in 2022, a steady climb that reflects broader food price inflation over those years. The 2024 figure is the most recent annual data available from the BLS CE program, released December 19, 2025.
One thing to keep in mind: this is a mean across all US households, not a median. A small number of very high-spending households pull the average up. Your own spending could sit well above or below this figure depending on your circumstances.
What Counts as Groceries Here
The BLS separates food spending into two buckets. Food at home covers everything you buy at a grocery store, supermarket, warehouse club, or similar retailer to prepare at home. Food away from home covers restaurants, fast food, cafeterias, and takeout.
In 2024, the average household spent $3,945 per year on food away from home. The $519 monthly figure does not include that. This article focuses on the grocery (food at home) portion, since that is what most people mean when they ask about a grocery budget.
Within the food-at-home category, the BLS breaks spending into subcategories. In 2024, the largest jump was in meats, poultry, fish, and eggs, which rose 21.5 percent from 2023 to reach $1,414 per year. Fruits and vegetables fell slightly to $953 per year. Cereals and bakery products dropped 6.1 percent to $779 per year. Dairy products reached $631 per year.
Illustrative Example: Translating Annual Data to a Monthly Budget
Here is a step-by-step calculation using the BLS 2024 figures. This is an illustrative example based on the national average consumer unit, not a prediction for any specific household.
- Start with the annual food-at-home figure: $6,224 (BLS CE 2024, all consumer units)
- Divide by 12 months: $6,224 ÷ 12 = $518.67, rounded to $519 per month
- Check as a share of total spending: Total average annual spending was $78,535. Food at home ($6,224) represents about 7.9 percent of total spending. The BLS reports food overall (at home plus away from home) as 12.9 percent of total expenditures in 2024.
If you want to apply this to your own budget, replace $6,224 with your own annual grocery receipts and divide by 12. Or use your monthly bank or credit card statements filtered to grocery merchants. For a practical method to do that, see how to record, sort, and act on your spending.
Income Changes the Picture Dramatically
The national average masks a wide range. Food spending by income group for 2024 looks like this. Note that these figures cover total food spending (groceries plus restaurants combined), not groceries alone. Monthly figures in the table are illustrative, calculated by dividing the annual totals by 12.
| Income group | Annual food spending | Monthly (illustrative) | Share of before-tax income |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lowest quintile | $5,498 | $5,498 ÷ 12 = $458 | 33.0% |
| Middle quintile | $9,097 | $9,097 ÷ 12 = $758 | 12.2% |
| Highest quintile | $16,989 | $16,989 ÷ 12 = $1,416 | 6.4% |
The key takeaway is that higher-income households spend more dollars on food in absolute terms, but food takes up a much smaller slice of their income. A low-income household can end up devoting a third of its income to eating. A high-income household spending three times as much may spend only 6 cents of every dollar earned.
This is why the national average of $519 per month for groceries alone does not fit every household. If your income is below the median, you may be spending less in dollars but feeling more financial pressure. Understanding how the 50/30/20 rule splits your paycheck can help you decide what share of take-home pay to target for food.
Recent Price Trends: What Is Getting More Expensive
Knowing the average is more useful when you understand why it has been rising. Food-at-home prices rose 2.3 percent in 2025 compared with 2024. That is slightly below the 20-year historical average of 2.6 percent per year. That sounds modest, but some categories moved much more sharply.
- Eggs: Retail egg prices averaged 21.9 percent higher in 2025 than in 2024, driven by an ongoing outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) that began in 2022. Prices did fall from April through December 2025 but remained elevated on an annual average basis.
- Beef and veal: Up 11.6 percent in 2025.
- Sugar and sweets: Up 5.1 percent in 2025.
- Nonalcoholic beverages: Up 3.8 percent in 2025.
- Fats and oils: Down 0.8 percent in 2025.
- Fresh vegetables: Down 0.4 percent in 2025.
These category-level swings explain why your grocery bill might feel higher even if the headline inflation number looks small. If your household eats a lot of eggs and beef, your personal food inflation rate in 2025 was well above the 2.3 percent average. Households that eat more vegetables and plant-based proteins likely saw smaller increases.
BLS Consumer Expenditure data for 2024 also shows big swings in spending by food type. Meats, poultry, fish, and eggs jumped 21.5 percent in average household spending from 2023 to 2024. At the same time, fruits and vegetables fell 3.5 percent, and cereals and bakery products fell 6.1 percent.
What Drives Your Grocery Bill Up or Down
The $519 monthly average is a starting point, not a target. Several factors push your actual number in either direction.
Household size is the biggest driver. A single person buying for one will spend far less than a family of four, even if they buy similar types of food. The BLS data covers all consumer units as a whole, so treat the $519 as a whole-household benchmark, not a per-person figure.
Diet and food choices matter a lot. Households that buy more meat, especially beef, will see higher bills. Those who rely on legumes, grains, and seasonal produce tend to spend less per meal.
Where you shop affects the total. Warehouse clubs, discount grocers, and store-brand products generally cost less per unit than specialty or premium retailers. Retail and wholesale trade establishments together account for about 20.1 cents of every dollar spent on domestically produced food in 2024.
Groceries are a variable expense, meaning the amount changes month to month based on what you buy, unlike a fixed bill such as rent. That variability makes it one of the easier categories to adjust when you need to cut spending, but also one of the harder ones to predict precisely.
Putting the Number in Your Budget
US consumers spent about 4.8 percent of disposable personal income on food at home in 2025. That share has fallen from 6.1 percent in 1997, meaning groceries take up a smaller fraction of income than they used to, even though the dollar amount has grown.
A practical approach: pull three months of grocery receipts or bank statements, add them up, and divide by three. That gives you your actual baseline. Then compare it to the BLS $519 figure, keeping in mind your household size and income relative to the national average consumer unit. To understand how your grocery spending fits into your overall cash flow, it helps to know which income figure to use when budgeting: gross or net pay.
Frequently asked questions
Does the $519 monthly figure include alcohol?
No. The BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey reports alcoholic beverages as a separate category. In 2024, the average household spent $643 per year on alcoholic beverages. The $519 food-at-home figure covers groceries only, not alcohol.
How much did average grocery spending rise from 2022 to 2024?
Average household food-at-home spending rose from $5,703 in 2022 to $6,224 in 2024, an increase of about 9 percent over two years. Food-at-home prices rose 2.3 percent in 2025 compared with 2024, which is below the 20-year average of 2.6 percent per year.
Are restaurant and takeout costs included in the grocery average?
No. The BLS separates food at home (groceries) from food away from home (restaurants, fast food, takeout). In 2024, the average household spent $3,945 per year on food away from home. Adding both categories gives a higher total food spend than the $519 grocery-only monthly figure.
Why did my egg and meat costs jump so much recently?
Egg prices averaged 21.9 percent higher in 2025 than in 2024. A highly pathogenic avian influenza outbreak that began in 2022 drove that increase. Beef and veal prices rose 11.6 percent in 2025. Both categories moved far above the overall 2.3 percent food-at-home inflation rate for 2025.
What share of income should I spend on groceries?
US consumers spent about 4.8 percent of disposable personal income on food at home in 2025. But this share varies widely by income. The lowest-income quintile spent 33 percent of before-tax income on all food in 2024, while the highest quintile spent just 6.4 percent. Use your own income and household size as the starting point, not the national share.
Sources
- CE home · Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)
- Consumer Expenditures--2024 - 2024 A01 Results · Bureau of Labor Statistics (bls.gov)
- Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials - Food Prices and Spending | Economic Research Service · ers.usda.gov
Written by AI; checked through automated evidence and editorial review. References retrieved October 11, 2026.
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