US states by food-away-from-home sales

California had the highest food-away-from-home sales of 51 states in 2017, at $128.84 billion. Wyoming had the lowest, at $1.39 billion. The median was $11.5 billion. Source: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Highest128,843.5California

Lowest1,392.2Wyoming

Median11,497.351 states

Map of states, 2017

Under 4,000
4,000 to 7,000
7,000 to 11K
11K to 17K
17K to 26K
26K and over

USD million, 2017. Source: USDA ERS. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2017

USD million. Source: USDA ERS. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	States	2017 USD million	Change on 2016
1	California	128,843.5	+8%
2	Texas	82,021.4	+6.7%
3	New York	63,249.7	+6.3%
4	Florida	61,610.9	+7%
5	Illinois	35,859.7	+5.5%
6	Pennsylvania	30,696.8	+6.5%
7	Ohio	28,972.7	+5.1%
8	Georgia	28,702.8	+7.1%
9	North Carolina	26,307.6	+6.2%
10	New Jersey	24,254.7	+6.8%
11	Michigan	22,772.9	+6.7%
12	Virginia	22,772.8	+5.7%
13	Massachusetts	22,717.1	+6.7%
14	Washington	21,601.3	+9.1%
15	Tennessee	18,720.9	+7.3%
16	Arizona	18,537.2	+7.9%
17	Colorado	17,735.7	+7.8%
18	Maryland	16,728.8	+5.7%
19	Indiana	16,369.7	+4.9%
20	Missouri	15,246.8	+5.1%
21	Minnesota	13,991.1	+5.1%
22	South Carolina	13,458.2	+7.1%
23	Nevada	13,054.5	+5.7%
24	Wisconsin	13,049.3	+6%
25	Louisiana	12,693.5	+4.8%
26	Alabama	11,497.3	+5.1%
27	Oregon	10,949.6	+7.7%
28	Kentucky	10,877.3	+5.5%
29	Connecticut	10,147.4	+4.5%
30	Oklahoma	9,332.6	+4.3%
31	Utah	7,423.5	+8.9%
32	Kansas	6,907.8	+4.6%
33	Iowa	6,841	+5.3%
34	Mississippi	6,798.1	+4.1%
35	Arkansas	6,706.2	+5.6%
36	Hawaii	6,640.4	+6.5%
37	New Mexico	4,815.7	+5.3%
38	District of Columbia	4,653.1	+5.8%
39	Nebraska	4,525.8	+6.1%
40	New Hampshire	4,059.3	+6.9%
41	West Virginia	3,881.2	+3.8%
42	Maine	3,736.8	+7.5%
43	Idaho	3,629.6	+8.2%
44	Rhode Island	3,291.7	+6.2%
45	Montana	2,575	+6.3%
46	Delaware	2,570	+5.9%
47	South Dakota	2,034.3	+5.7%
48	North Dakota	1,962.5	+5%
49	Alaska	1,857.4	+3.6%
50	Vermont	1,665.6	+5.6%
51	Wyoming	1,392.2	+3.6%

Other periods

About this ranking

Annual sales of meals and snacks bought away from home, at restaurants, schools, hotels and other places in the state, including sales taxes and tips, to all purchasers, in millions of US dollars at current prices (USDA ERS Food Expenditure Series).

USDA Economic Research Service, Food Expenditure Series. US states and DC only; no national value is served because the national tables of the series are compiled differently and do not add up to the states. Sales include sales taxes and tips and cover purchases by households, businesses and governments, at current prices. Food at home is food bought at grocery stores, supercenters, convenience stores and other outlets for preparation at home; food away from home is meals and snacks bought at restaurants, schools, hotels and other places. Alcoholic drinks are not included. Recent years are revised when ERS updates the series.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the states are compared on one definition. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

USDA, Economic Research Service. Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars. https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. (2026). Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars (US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730

MLA 9

Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars, US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017. Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1 June 2026, https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 2026. Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars. US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017.

Harvard

Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2026) Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars, US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{economic_us_states_by_food_2017,
  author = {{Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture}},
  title = {{Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars: US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017. Publisher attribution: USDA, Economic Research Service. Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars. https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
TI  - Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars: US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/01
PB  - Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: USDA, Economic Research Service. Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars. https://www.ers.usda.gov/media/5204/state-food-sales-with-taxes-and-tips-for-all-purchasers.csv?v=55730. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -

Embed this chart

Paste this code into a web page or a blog post. The chart shows the latest figures as they are published, with the source and a link back to this page.

Embed code

<iframe src="https://invokely.ai/embed/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2017" width="760" height="500" title="US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2017, chart from Invokely" loading="lazy" style="border:0;width:100%;max-width:760px" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin"></iframe>

Sites that read oEmbed links, such as WordPress, can show the chart when you paste the link to this page.

Use this data in your AI agent

Invokely serves this figure to AI assistants through MCP and to code through a REST API, with the source and citation attached. Ask your assistant:

Rank US states by food-away-from-home sales using official data, and cite the source.

rank_places {"indicator":"food_away_from_home_sales_usd","level":"region","within":"United States","limit":10}
GET https://invokely.ai/api/v1/rank?indicator=food_away_from_home_sales_usd&level=region&within=United%20States&limit=10

Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor in one step. The trial answers 25 calls a day without an account.

Questions

Which state has the highest food-away-from-home sales?

California, with $128.84 billion in 2017, according to Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Which state has the lowest food-away-from-home sales?

Wyoming, with $1.39 billion in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Expenditure Series, state food sales with taxes and tips for all purchasers, food-away-from-home sales, millions of nominal US dollars. Retrieved 2026-10-12.