4 ms·

The USDA[1] shows Americans spending 11.3% of disposable income on food. To quote them: >U.S. consumers spent an average of 11.3 percent of their disposable p

• Scoundreller 3y ago
  The median income is a lot lower than the average income. Not even sure how food falls under disposable income. Sounds like a cute way of saying "after-tax income" as if "things to buy otherwise you die" is a luxury"? From the chart after the one you quoted: "In 2021, households in the lowest income quintile spent an average of $4,875 on food (representing 30.6 percent of income), while households in the highest income quintile spent an average of $13,973 on food (representing 7.6 percent of income)." Pretty cool/sad to see the top 20% spending almost 3x/household on food.
  • lotsofpulp 3y ago
    Without knowing number of people per household, you cannot draw any conclusions on the top 20% spending 3x the bottom 20%. The top 20% might have a disproportionate amount of family of 4+ with kids in their teenage years and parents in their highest earning years. The bottom 20% might disproportionately be senior citizens collecting Social Security with no kids. Also, top 20% are living in more expensive regions than bottom 20%. Lots of conflating factors to tease out that would result in 3x not being the correct multiple.