Education Impact on Food Expenditures

This week, The Food Institute looked at how education relates to food expenditures. While it is no surprise that the more educated the head of the household is the more dollars the household will spend on food, both at and away from home, The Food Institute has quantified some of the data in its Demographics of Food Spending report released recently. Here are some tidbits:

This week, The Food Institute looked at how education relates to food expenditures. While it is no surprise that the more educated the head of the household is the more dollars the household will spend on food, both at and away from home, The Food Institute has quantified some of the data in its Demographics of Food Spending report released recently. Here are some tidbits: 

• Households with the breadwinner holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher spend an average 44% more on food per annum than families where head-of-household do not hold a four year degree (based on average annual expenditures of $65.908 for Bachelor’s; and $30,323 for no High School diploma)
• Those with advanced degrees spend 65% more per year on fruits and vegetables than those without a high school diploma
• Beef sales are virtually the same regardless of head-of-household education level
• Food to take along on out-of-town trips averages $20 annually for those with less than a high school diploma, while  $84 is spent annually by those holding Bachelor’s degrees
• Head-of-Households holding Associate college degrees only spend 73 cents less per week on cereal products than their graduate degree counterparts
• Higher degree head-of-households spend $4,110 versus $1,392 for those without a high school diploma
• Not a big discrepancy in terms of dollars spent on eating out purchases between Associate Degree Head of HH and Bachelor’s Degree Head of HH, but there is a considerable jump between Bachelor’s degree and next step up (Master’s, PhD)

To find out more about fun facts like this regarding food spending, look for the Food Institute Demographics of Food Spending report at http://www.foodinstitute.com/demographics.cfm and if you enter GURU in the promotional code, you will receive a 10% discount.

All statistics based on Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2009 Consumer Expenditure Survey.