US states by food-away-from-home sales

California had the highest food-away-from-home sales of 51 states in 2020, at $123.08 billion. Wyoming had the lowest, at $1.34 billion. The median was $11.36 billion. Source: Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Highest123,084.2California

Lowest1,336.8Wyoming

Median11,356.351 states

Map of states, 2020

Under 4,000
4,000 to 7,000
7,000 to 11K
11K to 16K
16K to 25K
25K and over

USD million, 2020. Source: USDA ERS. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

All states, 2020

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

Full ranking

Rank	States	2020 USD million	Change on 2019
1	California	123,084.2	-12.6%
2	Texas	82,092.9	-11.5%
3	Florida	60,632.3	-14%
4	New York	55,960.8	-16.2%
5	Illinois	34,116.8	-11.9%
6	Georgia	29,063.2	-10.9%
7	Pennsylvania	28,088	-14.1%
8	Ohio	27,598	-12.4%
9	North Carolina	26,197.7	-11.2%
10	New Jersey	22,980.2	-13.6%
11	Virginia	21,460.1	-13.8%
12	Michigan	21,441.7	-12.1%
13	Massachusetts	20,785.2	-15%
14	Washington	20,561.7	-13.3%
15	Arizona	19,029.4	-10.5%
16	Tennessee	18,507.4	-12%
17	Colorado	17,108.7	-13.4%
18	Maryland	15,721.1	-13.7%
19	Indiana	15,648.7	-12.1%
20	Missouri	14,308.1	-14%
21	South Carolina	14,036.8	-8.4%
22	Minnesota	13,036	-13.1%
23	Wisconsin	12,190.4	-13.5%
24	Nevada	11,845.1	-18.2%
25	Louisiana	11,743.6	-14%
26	Alabama	11,356.3	-11.7%
27	Kentucky	10,648.6	-9.8%
28	Oregon	10,278.5	-13.6%
29	Connecticut	9,445.7	-13.5%
30	Oklahoma	9,189	-11.8%
31	Utah	7,644.7	-8.6%
32	Arkansas	6,701.1	-9.9%
33	Kansas	6,666.7	-11.6%
34	Mississippi	6,553.6	-12.4%
35	Iowa	6,545.6	-11.8%
36	Hawaii	5,334.5	-20.1%
37	New Mexico	4,707.6	-11.3%
38	Nebraska	4,487.9	-10.4%
39	New Hampshire	3,929.7	-13.1%
40	Idaho	3,867.7	-9.1%
41	District of Columbia	3,765.3	-19.9%
42	West Virginia	3,623.1	-11.3%
43	Maine	3,482.3	-14.8%
44	Rhode Island	3,040.1	-15.2%
45	Montana	2,528	-12.9%
46	Delaware	2,514.7	-11.9%
47	South Dakota	1,956.4	-12.1%
48	North Dakota	1,805.1	-12.9%
49	Alaska	1,685.7	-14.6%
50	Vermont	1,510.1	-14.3%
51	Wyoming	1,336.8	-12.9%

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, 2020) [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, 2020. 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=2020. 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, 2020. 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=2020.

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, 2020 [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=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{economic_us_states_by_food_2020,
  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, 2020}},
  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=2020. 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, 2020
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=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/food-away-from-home-sales/us-states?period=2020.
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=2020" width="760" height="500" title="US states by food-away-from-home sales, 2020, 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 $123.08 billion in 2020, according to Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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

Wyoming, with $1.34 billion in 2020.

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.