Fast Food Statistics | March 2023 | The Barbecue Lab
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Fast Food Consumption
How many times does the average person eat fast food per week?
Most Americans eat at a fast food restaurant 1-3 times a week. Statistics from a survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics from Center for Disease Control shows that a little over one-third (36.6%) of adults in America eat it on any given day. That’s about 84.8 million adults eating fast food every day! Yikes!
Age
Does age play a role in consumption of fast food? We learned that 44.9% of Americans aged 20-39 eat fast food on any given day. Slightly less, you’ll find 37.7% of the 40-59 years old population partaking, and only 24.1% of the 60+ crowd indulging in fast food. Do people younger than 60 eat out more because they are still in the workforce and have the income to do so? Maybe. People older than 60 are generally moving out of the workforce and now have time to cook for themselves at home. Fast food is expensive, too, and retirement can leave people with fixed incomes. It’s possible that they are choosing to eat at home to be healthier and save money.
Gender
What about gender? It turns out that more men than women consume fast food on any given day, and the same report from the CDC shows that 38% of men are consuming it daily versus 35.4% of women.
Race
According to the data, it appears as though the group consuming fast food the most was the African American population, with 42.4% partaking on any given day. The Asian Americans consumed the least, with only 30.6% visiting fast food restaurants.
How much did Americans spend on fast food in 2019?
It’s no secret that Americans eat a LOT of fast food. In 2018, the CDC reported that roughly one out of every 3 Americans were consuming some type of fast food on any given day.
The average American individually spends $1,200 a year on fast food alone, while the average American household spends around 10% of their income. That adds up to $110 billion dollars a year, which could end world hunger for up to three years.
Why is fast food so popular in America?
It saves time.
As a culture, we don’t have the time to stop to prepare food or sit down and eat. Fast food in the United States is popular because it’s just that – fast! Its convenience and speed make it an easy choice for families and people on the go. Most families in America (83% of them) eat it at least once a week. Many fast food meals are even eaten in the car, as much as 20%.
It’s cheap.
Or so many people think. Fast food is relatively inexpensive compared with other restaurants. However, it’s significantly more expensive than preparing food at home. In fact, about 32% of the people that eat fast food eat it because they think it is cheaper than the alternatives.
And while there is an idea out there that lower income families eat more fast food because of the “inexpensive costs,” that idea is actually not based on the data. The numbers show that those with higher income tend to consume more fast food than those with lower incomes.
The National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Center for Disease Control & Prevention, shows that 42% of adults that have a higher family income level eat fast food on any given day, while only 31.7% of adults in lower income brackets do so as well.
It’s convenient.
With 826,000 fast food restaurants worldwide – this type of food is easy to find. Lunchtime is the most popular time for fast-food consumption, as 43.7% of consumers eat their fast food at this time, while dinner is a very close second at 42%.
It tastes good.
Fast food is high in calories and loaded with fat, sugar & salt. Most of the nutrition that would be present has been stripped away due to processing, so those things are added in order to make the food taste good. Combine that with a caffeine & sugar laden soft drink and it’s no wonder we all hit that work day slump around 3 pm. Fast food might taste good – but it’s not good for you.
Is fast-food consumption increasing?
The fast food industry continues to grow 2.2% a year. It’s fair to say that despite all the health risks that accompany the regular consumption of fast food, it is still increasing. The fast food industry also currently employs 13 million people and has 826,000 restaurants and establishments world wide, so it’s safe to say it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
