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Food expenditures by consumer units vary by income group, in part because average family size also varies by income level.
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For example, the chart compares the food expenditures of consumer units in the second income quintile (that is, the next-to-lowest 20 percent) and in the fourth income quintile (the next-to-highest 20 percent). On average, consumer units in the second quintile spent $3,729 on food in 1997, while those in the fourth quintile spent $5,680, or 52 percent more.
However, the average number of persons in second-quintile consumer units was 2.3 while in the fourth quintile the average was 2.9. Therefore, there was a smaller difference between the quintiles in food expenditures per person. The average expenditure on food per person was $1,621 in the second quintile and $1,959 in the fourth, for a 21-percent difference.
Per person expenditures for food at home were quite similar for the two groups—$1,120 in the second and $1,144 in the fourth quintile. There was a substantial difference in expenditures per person for food away from home. In the second quintile, the figure was $501 while in the fourth quintile the corresponding number was 62 percent higher, at $814.
These data are a product of the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey program. Additional information is available from "Consumer Expenditure Survey: Quarterly Data from the Interview Survey, Fourth Quarter 1997: Using Consumer Unit Characteristics to Compare Expenditures," BLS Report 933.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Comparing food expenditures by income group at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/1999/aug/wk4/art03.htm (visited October 14, 2024).