What Percent of Income Should Go to Groceries? Real Numbers for 2026

The short answer: about 6% on average, 10-15% is a sensible target

The average US household spends about 6% of its pre-tax income on groceries. In the latest BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey (2024 data), households spent $6,224 a year on food at home, out of an average income of $104,207 before taxes. Add restaurants and takeout ($3,945) and all food comes to about 10%.

The national accounts give a similar picture. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, Americans spent 9.7% of their disposable (after-tax) income on food in 2025: 4.8% on food at home and 4.9% on food away from home.

So the "right" percentage depends on who is asking. As a practical rule:

• Under 10% of take-home pay: comfortable. Typical for higher incomes and smaller households.
• 10-15% of take-home pay: a sensible target for most households, especially families.
• Over 20% of take-home pay: groceries are squeezing everything else. Worth a closer look - but read the next section first, because household size often explains it.

Why one percentage can't fit everyone

Food is a need, so it does not grow with your paycheck the way rent or travel do. A family earning twice as much does not eat twice as much. Economists call this Engel's law: as income rises, households spend more dollars on food, but a smaller share of their income. The USDA's 2024 figures by income group show how strong the effect is (all food, including eating out):

Household income	Food spending per year	Share of pre-tax income
Lowest 20%	$5,498	33.0%
Middle 20%	$9,097	12.2%
Highest 20%	$16,989	6.4%

Source: USDA ERS, based on the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey 2024. Food = food at home plus food away from home.

The top income group spends three times as many dollars on food as the bottom group, but only a fifth of the share. A flat "spend 10% of your income on groceries" rule is easy for one household and impossible for another.

The percentage that matters: what your household needs

A better way to judge your number is to start from what your household actually needs to eat, then see what share of your take-home pay that is. The USDA Food Plans give that cost for a healthy diet cooked at home. Here is the Moderate-Cost plan (the level most households land on without tracking) as a share of monthly take-home pay:

Take-home pay per month	Single adult ($441)	Couple ($808)	Family of 4 ($1,388)
$3,000	15%	27%	46%
$4,000	11%	20%	35%
$5,000	9%	16%	28%
$6,000	7%	13%	23%
$8,000	6%	10%	17%
$10,000	4%	8%	14%

Monthly costs from the USDA Food Plans: single adult and couple aged 19-50 from the September 2026 report (average of one man and one woman, with the USDA's size adjustments), family of 4 with two children aged 6-11 from the August 2026 report. Rounded to the nearest percent.

Two things jump out. First, a family of 4 on $5,000 a month spends 28% on groceries just eating a normal, healthy diet - that is not overspending, it is the cost of four people. Second, a single person at the same income who spends 25% probably is overspending, because the benchmark for them is about 9%.

If you are on a tighter budget, the cheaper plans help: a family of 4 on the Low-Cost plan needs about $1,126 a month (23% of $5,000), and a couple about $653 (13%). The full plan-by-plan numbers are in our guides to a grocery budget for 2 people and a grocery budget for a family of 4.

Where groceries fit in the 50/30/20 rule

The popular 50/30/20 budget splits take-home pay into 50% needs, 30% wants and 20% savings. Groceries belong in the 50% "needs" bucket, next to rent, utilities, insurance and transport. That is why the grocery share is worth watching: when housing already takes 30-35%, there is only 15-20% left for every other need, and groceries are usually the biggest one.

One honest caveat: only the food is a need. Snacks you don't plan to eat, ready meals bought because nobody planned dinner, and the third trip of the week are "wants" hiding in the grocery line. Splitting your receipts into categories is the quickest way to see how much of the bill really belongs in the 50%.

How to work out your own percentage in 3 steps

1. Add up one real month. Keep every grocery receipt for 4 weeks, from everyone in the household. Most people underestimate this number by 20-40%, so don't use a guess.
2. Take out what isn't food. Toilet paper, cleaning supplies, pet food and alcohol often ride on the same receipt. The benchmarks above cover food only, so compare like with like.
3. Divide by your take-home pay (after tax and payroll deductions), then compare with your household's row in the table above. Within a few points of the benchmark is fine. Five or more points above it is where the savings are.

If you are above the benchmark, the biggest levers are usually the store, not the list. In our anonymized data from 10,000+ scanned receipts, shoppers paid about 30% less at Aldi than at Walmart for six staples - see the grocery store price comparison. Our monthly grocery budget guide shows how to set category limits once you know your number.

Step 1 is the one people skip, because saving and adding up paper receipts is tedious. A receipt scanner app does it as you go: snap each receipt, and a grocery budget tracker shows the monthly total, split by category, ready to compare with your income.

Frequently asked questions